Umberto Martello was the founder and president of the Cimbra Culture Institute in Roana.
The author was born on July 25, 1899, in Mezzaselva di Roana, the eleventh of 13 children. After childhood in the village and attending elementary school, he started working and emigrated to Styria.
With the outbreak of World War I, at just 17 years old, he was a soldier fighting on the Grappa, on the Piave, and in the Seven Municipalities. After the war, he was part of the United Nations troops that monitored Silesia, in Poland.
In 1922, he resumed his emigration to Australia, near Perth, where he first worked in a gold mine and then managed a farm.
In 1939, he returned to Italy and took a job as a postal worker. 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 retired and could dedicate himself to Cimbra culture. He died in 1981.
Currently, his house is not visitable, but in his memory, a commemorative plaque can be read on his house in Mezzaselva.
