👧📖 Niki and Manu discover a childhood writer: Francesco Chiesa

 

Once upon a time, there was a grandfather who wrote about his childhood… like it was a storybook!
His name was Francesco Chiesa. He lived in Switzerland, spoke Italian, and loved to tell how school, games, and dreams were when he was your age.

One day, Niki, while packing her Treasure Trunk to take to Paraguay—with books, toys, and special objects—found a very old, rare book with big letters and yellowed pages. She showed it to her grandpa.

—“Look! This book says: School Memories.”
—“Is it a story?” asked Manu.

And Grandpa replied:
—“It’s the story of Francesco Chiesa! Just like a diary he wrote as a child!”

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🏫 What was his school like?
Francesco wrote that the desks were made of wood, the pencils were charcoal, and the teacher wrote with chalk on a giant blackboard!

—“They didn’t have tablets or unicorn backpacks,” said Manu.
—“Not even juice boxes!” laughed Niki.

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🎨 ACTIVITY
🖍️ Draw your own version of an “old-fashioned school.”
👉 Download our coloring sheet with blackboards, wooden desks, and ink jars.

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🕊️ Did you know…?
Francesco Chiesa lived to be over 100 years old, and he kept writing as if he still had a child inside him.
He wrote so he wouldn’t forget.
And you? What story would you like to tell when you grow up?

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📌 The End
If you liked this real-life story, there are more old tales waiting in our blog!
🧩 Learning from the past can be a great adventure.

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🧒 An Unforgettable Prank: “Una birichinata” (A Prank)

Among the many stories Francesco Chiesa wrote about his childhood, one stands out for its mix of adventure, humor, and disobedience: “Una birichinata” (A Prank).

Although he uses fictitious names, the story is clearly autobiographical. Chiesa and his friend—whom he calls the tempting devil—decide one day not to go to school and instead explore the attic of the village church's bell tower.

With ingenuity and a touch of danger, they climb from inside the church, climb onto the roof, and manage to enter the attic through a window. There they find a magical world of ancient objects: candlesticks, nativity scenes, a Virgin Mary with golden stars on her dress… a sacred time capsule.

After hours of discovery, they decide to spy inside the church. From a hole in the roof, they see the priest rehearsing his Sunday sermon. Then, in an act of mischief that blends innocence and daring, one of the boys throws pebbles and debris at the priest. The poor priest, believing the roof is collapsing, flees in terror.

The story ends without punishment. But Chiesa tells it neither with pride nor guilt: he narrates it with the gentle distance of a child in a time when even a church could be a secret place to play.