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Born in San Marino.
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Msc. in History and Latin from Bologna University (Italy).
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Under the archaeologists Giuseppe Gatteschi and Orazio Marucchi, works in excavations at the Roman Forum. After the publishing in 1924 of Gatteschi's "Restauri della Roma Imperiale", he leaves the group, considering the research is fueling political (pro-fascist) statements.
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Frustrated by the poor political choices made by the main researchers after the publication of Gatteschi's work, VP leaves organized scientific endeavors for good.
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Teaches History and Latin at the Scuola Secondaria Superiore Repubblica di San Marino.
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Marries to Serena Pastelli, née Grandi.
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Ever an anarchist, VP felt his work at "La Scuola" was not enough to best serve the people. On the other hand, he could not stand the Italian Communist Party, especially its silence during the Stalinist trials of alleged traitors, so it was imposssible for him to do social work with them. To put his education to political use, he began a carreer of "teacher-rambler" in several poor villages at Emilia-Romana region. (On the photo: Show trial of dissident Karl Radek).
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From small village to small village, VP assumes the persona of a slow-burn revolutionary. Ten years after he will be doing this again 12 thousand miles away from Italy.
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His good friend and once pupil Leon Trotsky is murdered in Mexico City. Pastelli thought of revolutions as long-distance shots that must end somewhen. His insistence on the necessary lenght of the revolutionary process led Leon to the erroneously understood theory of "permanent revolution". The untimely death of Leon broke any chances of a new meeting and a clear theory of revolution as something in need of "deep sociological time", a concept forged by Pastelli, but not fully grasped by Leon.
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Serena Pastelli dies after a short and unidentified illness. The couple stop their rambling and VP was all the time beside her deathbed. In all these years of rambling, Serena took part in preparing classes, organizing groups of people interested in some learning and, above all, working at convincing fathers to let their children attend some hours of classes each week.
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This year we know for sure that VP closed his deeds in Italy and decided for Brazil. But exactly when? He was by then teaching at Gattara di Casteldelci (photo). 1948 saw an utra-leftist revolution in San Marino and there are plenty of witnesses that VP was a prominent figure in the upheaval. Maybe he had to leave Europe for good for this very reason, but he never acknowledged any role in San Marino's ultra-leftist movement.
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Leaves Italy and settles in Brazil. Decides for the city of Itatiba, State of São Paulo. There he takes a job as warden at the Fazenda Ferraz Costa. (modern photo of its siege shown here) while working his language skills in Portuguese. -
Begins his Brazilian professional life as a teacher at Grupo Escolar Coronel Júlio César. His areas comprehend Latin and Roman History. This activity lasts until 1956.
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Pastelli misses his native San Marino and, especially, his stay at Scuola Superiore (photo c. 1920, showing its exquisite double entrance). He leaves his public teaching activities, takes a double sabbatical and assumes the life of a rambler up to the end of 1958. This year marks his resolution to become a teacher-revolutionary. It is a new and courageous turn for a man in his mid-sixties. -
From his second "gray year" on Pastelli is in constant movement. He lives in pensions, little farms, small villages, always doing menial jobs to get enough to live. But in every place he gathers new pupils to discuss all things civilized and, especially, the ways to keep alive the revolutionary flame encoded in his motto UGUAGLIANZA E BUON GUSTO, "Equality and Good Taste".
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In 1979, a group of Physics students from USP invites Pastelli to give private speeches on his views about a civilized revolutionary process. He stayed in São Paulo for no more than 5 months, before returning to his rambling life. During this time he finally explains his role at the San Marino upheaval of 1948 and so much more. From these testimonials derive about all we know on his biography and intellectual production. His texts are still being anonymously revised and published on the net.
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Dies in Itatiba, State of São Paulo, Brazil. His remains are translated to San Marino and now lie alongside his only love Serena.
