An Extraordinary Love Story from 1920s

Original Story Published by: AI Staff, www.asmarino.com
Photo Source: Unknown

(Above) Fissehatsion and Girolama – circa 1922.

Documents of the colonial era are sparse and incomplete, but they are also one of the written sources preserved in the post-fascist period.  By going over the documents available at the Archive of the Historical Office of the SME, Professor Alessandro Volterra, expert in History of Africa, reconstructed the story of Fessehatsion Beyn(Fessahazien Beienè), who had a very special life for a colonial subject of the fascist era.few

Fessehatsion was born in Keren in 1890 and educated by the Catholic Mission.  He went to school with the likes of Lorenzo Tazaz and Dr Embaie Woldemariam, both important politicians under Emperor Haile Selassie.

Fessehatsion could speak several languages - Tigre, Tigrigna, Arabic, Italian and Amharic - and he put his language skills to use by working as an interpreter for the Italians.

After he moved to Asmara he worked as a driver for an Italian officer’s family; he then moved to Italy in 1921 with his employer. The mere fact that he had a driving license, which was rare in those days, not only for Eritreans but also Italians, speaks for itself; he lived a life out of the ordinary.  

Fessehatsion settled in Rome and worked for the Montenero family as a driver.  According to his nephew, his great-uncle was a modern, elegant, intelligent and a very complex man.  

While working for the Montenero family, he met a certain Girolama Ricucci, who was also, probably, working in the same household. The two began a relationship that ended drastically when she became pregnant in the summer of 1923.  Fessehatsion had to return to Eritrea in December of the same year.