‘This is a historical document’: A humble school project turns into book revealing decades-old secrets

When 11-year-old Matilda Rees interviewed her Italian nonna for a school project, she had no idea that the story of her life would turn into a 107-page book.

Her grandmother, Rosa Criniti, was more than happy to discuss her childhood in the southern Italian village of Santa Caterina dello Ionio — in the arch of the foot of the Italian Peninsula — with her granddaughter.

But having left the village as an 11-year-old herself, Nonna Rosa realised there was so much history still unwritten.

So during the COVID-19 lockdown, Rosa, 71, gave herself a project: to write her family history and culture down for generations to come.

Since starting her project, Rosa has learned a century-old headwear folding technique, reconnected with family and…