The story of one song like the "Semmo de Cinturini" to understand the workers' society of the early 1900s… Then there was the autarchy, we juta with the ginestra; if he tear all over! For the day, the day to the frames, a torn from half a fabric for the bàlla, you had to stay there, first you had to put on the needle, then the knot, then reinfiliate on the altr'go, then put it apart because if the Weaving was not parassed you raised money.
(Celsa Paganelli, Centurini worker, 1936) Semo de Cinturini is a song of the workers of Jutificio Centurini, founded in Terni in the early 1900s by the engineer Alessandro Centurini, whose surname in Ternano was inevitably transformed into "straps".
The song was collected by Lucilla Galeazzi , singer, singer -songwriter, scholar and passionate researcher, who dedicated her life to the recovery of traditional music of her land, Umbria. In the Jutificio, which produced jute yarns and fabrics for packaging bags, about 1300 women worked, in very difficult conditions, because they lived in extremely unhealthy and foul -smelling environments, forced to breathe jute hair, continuously risking hurting their hands with frames and All this for a hunger salary. As if that were not enough, the workers were also made fun of because, even when they detached, they brought the consequences of a decidedly nauseating work. However, the song of the " centurare " reveals a great pride, because women, even if exploited, had the opportunity to earn a salary, albeit minimal and this gave them the opportunity to affirm their identity, to give value to their work And to redeem himself from a condition that had always seen women working in the fields, employed by the husband or family. The workers of the Jutificio Centurini were combative and always in the front row in the claim of their rights. They were battle and rebels, they did not accept compromises of any kind and often, due to their behavior, they were ignored by the trade union and political organization. Also, together with many other workers, they participated in the great strike of 1901, which lasted uninterruptedly 43 days and hard repressed. Thanks to the struggles and courage of the "centurare", the Jutificio became the emblem of the female independence of that area over time. The company was closed definitively in the early seventies.