Umberto Martello was born on July 25, 1899, in Mezzaselva di Roana, the eleventh of 13 children. After childhood in his village and elementary school, he started working and emigrated to Styria.
With the outbreak of World War I, at only 17 years old, he was a combat soldier on the Grappa, on the Piave, and in the Seven Municipalities. After the war, he was part of the United Nations troops that controlled Silesia, in Poland.
In 1922, he resumed emigration by going to Australia, near Perth, where he first worked in a gold mine, then ran a farm. In 1939, he returned to Italy and took a job as a postal employee. In 1942, he married Santa Zotti, with whom he had three children: Tiziana, Carlo, and Paola. After serving in Primolano, Costabissara, Valdagno, Stoner, Asiago, Canove, and Mezzaselva, he was put into retirement and was able to dedicate himself to Cimbrian culture. He died in 1981.
Umberto Martello was the founder and president of the Cimbrian Culture Institute of Roana. He played a fundamental role in the publication of numerous works in the Cimbrian language, among which the most important is the Dictionary of the Cimbrian Language of the Seven Municipalities of Vicenza (published in 1974), written with the collaboration of Alfonso Bellotto and with the support of Hugo Resch.
His works are still remembered today and can also be found at the Cimbrian Culture Institute in Roana. For more information, you can send an email to the addresses listed in the contacts or contact the Pro Loco Mezzaselva during opening periods.
