ROCCA DI VALLE DI CASTRIGNANO

On the ground floor of Malavilla, the toolbox of Cecrope Malavilla, a stonemason and bricklayer from Rimagna, in the Parma Apennines, Municipality of Monchio delle Corti, is on display. It is the classic box that every stonemason owned, almost a symbol: his work companion, ready to tackle any sandstone work, used to shape wall stones or cornerstones from a larger boulder.
It contains: the testù or testone, used to strike the wedges (or punches) inserted into the boulder to make the first opening. In addition to the indispensable mallet or masol, there is the giandino or piciantòn, a flat-tipped, thick chisel for the initial roughing of the cutting line. The chisels or points are used to finish the stones and make them more regular; a plumb line and square, to check the perpendicularity of the wall and square the cornerstones, complete the box.
Cecrope Malavilla, known as Šeco, was born in Rimagna on January 7, 1907, the youngest of eighteen children. He was therefore encouraged to make his own way in life at a very early age and had to buy a stone ruin, where he began to live with his wife, while both worked on rebuilding the house, to which Cecrope continued to devote himself until the end of his days.
He often worked in a team with Aladino Dalcielo and participated in the construction of the Ballano Lake hydroelectric reservoir and numerous houses in the municipality of Monchio. It is said that he was extremely precise, so much so that, at the slightest mistake, he preferred to throw everything away and start over. His brother Michele was also a talented stonemason and created the Trefiumi fountain and the war memorial in Valditacca.
While working, he often repeated aloud: “Tic, Tic, Tic, always poor and never rich!”