This is who Clelia Granci was, the midwife on a Vespa who delivered 14 thousand babies across the Riviera

RIMINI – It’s easy to say 14 thousand children, but who counted them? “My mother – smiles her son Michele Lisi – But he also said that he stopped keeping track in the 1980s…”. On Saturday at 10am the park that Rimini has dedicated to will be inaugurated Clelia Granci, in the hamlet of Corpolò. “Clelia was very maternal, she looked after me with both my children – specifies the councilor Manuela Guaitoli, who proposed the title – But I am part of a family that is a tribe: all born under the protective wing of Clelia. It was always a relief when she arrived. She came to your house even after giving birth, she helped you learn to weigh them, dress them, with her you had no worries. She listened to you, followed you. Any question was legitimate.” Her story is also a story of emancipation: “she was a pioneer of women’s work – recalls Guaitoli – she studied in the 1950s, shortly after the end of the war. Then she started her business as a self-employed professional. She was a modern figure, even a bold one, given the historical context.” Having obtained your midwifery diploma in Bologna in 1957, you continued your activity for around fifty years, until the mid-2000s.

The postman grandmother and war nurse

Her mother must have inspired her, Renata Teresa Montemaggi, postman and war nurse. “She was a postman on foot – Michele always remembers – from where we are, in the province of Rimini, she went as far as San Marino. And since she was also a nurse, if it happened she would also do some medication.”

There are many anecdotes about the figure of Clelia, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 79. “When I was little my mother was always away – recalls her son – we rarely ate together, the phone rang at all hours. I worked in Bologna as a policeman and I remember that one day, while talking, a girl told me: I was born in Villamaria. To laugh, I replied: it turns out you were born with my mother. And that’s exactly how it was.”

The year of the “snow”

“At first she traveled around with a Vespone, then as soon as she had a bit of money she bought a car. The year of nevone, there was a woman from Sao Paulo who had to give birth and not even the firefighters could get there. In the end the inhabitants took the jeep from above and took my mother to the only place she could reach. And they had the woman brought there too.”

That doorbell rang furiously

Another time, Michele continues, “I saw a baby being born in the car. I must have been eight years old, a gentleman rang the doorbell loudly: they didn’t have time to get to the hospital. He was born on a 126”. When she talked about her work, Clelia (as everyone calls her in Rimini) was always happy, even if she spent the night away from her, in the morning at breakfast she smiled at the table. “She never complained about the effort, she did the job she had chosen to do, she loved giving birth to children,” comments Clelia’s other son, Luca. On Facebook, under the pages that talk about her, her comments multiply: “Clelia was my second mother”, writes Miranda. And Marisa: “My daughter is one of 14 thousand children, she was infinitely graceful and sweet.” In the reasons behind her dedication we read: “She has always stood out for her availability, her humanity and her dedication to her profession, coming at any time of day or night. The gratitude and esteem of the people who had the opportunity to know her can still be seen today.”