Spazzacamini

The boys, usually 8 to 12 years old, were mostly from the Canton of Ticino, coveted by their padroni chimney sweepers because they were small and slim and so could climb the narrow chimneys and to clean them. When the boys had reached the top of the chimneys, they had to shout Spazzacamini! to prove that they actually had climbed up the dark, stuffy fireplaces. Working conditions were catastrophic. For lunch, the children often had nothing to eat and had to go begging for bread, and they had often to sleep in stables. The boys were hired in the winter so that at the family tables in the badly developed valleys of Ticino,one mouth less had to be fed. Bitter poverty and hunger were then widespread in Ticino during the winter. Many children came from the Valle Verzasca, the Cento Valli and also from the Italian Val Vigezzo valleys and frequently worked in northern Italy. == In culture ==

Every autumn in Vigezzo, chimney sweeps from all over the world meet in memory of the chimney sweep child slaves. == Literature ==

• Elisabeth Wenger: Als lebender Besen im Kamin: Einer vergessenen Vergangenheit auf der Spur. Books on demand, 2010. • Lisa Tetzner and Kurt Kläber: Die Schwarzen Brüder. Erlebnisse und Abenteuer eines kleinen Tessiners. First published in 1940–41, Sauerländer, Aarau/Mannheim 2010, . • Lisa Tetzner and Hannes Binder (illustrations): Die Schwarzen Brüder – Roman in Bildern. Patmos Verlagshaus, Düsseldorf 2002, . == See also ==