The farmers' struggles in the 1900s

The land for the farmers.

Front page of the newspaper “La Falce” (The Scythe), a propagandist document on the social struggles at the beginning of the 20 th century, with iconographical references to the rural world.

At the beginning of the 1900s the farmers reacted in increasingly critical and controversial ways to their role as tenant farmers ( mezzadrie ), which still had a flavour of feudalism about it.

Later on, recognition of the situation and promises that can be summarized by the slogan “the land for the farmers”, and particularly the socialist ideology, helped to nourish in the collective mentality of the masses a new awareness of their rights and role. A significant event in our local countryside was the proposal of a new farming agreement formulated by the “league of tenant farmers of Foiano della Chiana”, signed on 26 th July, 1919, with the intention of establishing the relationship between tenant farmers and landowners in a standard and uniform manner.


The increasingly bitter conflicts between the two sides also led to tragic events, such as the famous “Renzino Story” in 1921.