In these days the first bell rang for almost 9 million Italian students: the first to return to school were those from the province of Bolzano, who started their activities on 5 September, followed by those from Piedmont, Campania, Italy. Friuli Venezia Giulia, Abruzzo, Trentino Alto Adige, Basilicata day 11 September.
The last ones were instead the students of Puglia, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio and Emilia Romagna on 15 September.
There was a time, not too far away, however, when the school year began for everyone, year after year, every 1st October. It was the year 1976 when the bell rang that for the last time marked the start of the school at dawn on October 1st.
Children who began their school career with the first grade - dressed in aprons and monochromatic bows useful to cancel any social difference - were called "remigini", in honor of San Remigio, the saint celebrated on that day.
With the law 517 of 4 August 1977 everything changed: the Minister of Public Education determined that from that autumn the school year should have started on a date between 10 and 20 September and the last lesson between 10 and June 30th. This intervention gave students the whole of July for the holidays, a month that previously was partly used for exam preparation.
That Friday, October 1, 1976, the single bell rang for the last time. At that time it was not obvious, but among the races of the boys with briefcases under their arms - backpacks were not yet widespread - and the rustle of aprons, there was also an impetuous wind of change, the farewell step of a traditional date that she would never come back.
Over the last few decades someone has made a proposal to return at the beginning of the school year to the first day of October, but for reasons of order, economic and, last but not least, climatic, nothing has ever been done. .
