I wanted to put in writing some of my memories of a childhood lived under communism, which some people used to call Romania’s Golden Age. I had a lot of stories ‒ some of them sad, some funny, some of them unbelievable or unthinkable ‒ and decided to write this book, so that one day my daughters, Sofia and Elisabetta, can learn about my life, and the life of my family and country.

Everyone lived through Romania’s last years of communism in their own way. In this book I share my memories, and tell my stories, with the innocence of the child I was at the time.

Those of us who remember this period can now, more or less, look back and smile, recalling the atmosphere, the sensations and the objects that surrounded us. We remember the people, their habits, and their sometimes-bizarre ways of doing things.

For most Romanians of my generation, these stories may evoke distant memories. For those who didn’t experience ‘Romania’s Golden Age’, I hope to let them feel a little of what it was like.

As my father was a military pilot, we frequently moved from town to town. This allowed him to accept better jobs, which allowed us to have a better life.

But this came at the cost of my routine, and my relationships with friends, school companions, teachers and neighbours. Wherever we went there was fear and restrictions, fed by a lack of food, water, electricity and petrol.

People were forced to attend political events; your medical care was only as deep as your pockets, and people were measured by how much gold ‒ and how many electrical appliances ‒ they possessed. I was born in 1972.

This book covers the period from my first memories, in about 1975, until 1989, when the communist regime fell. Each of the five chapters represents a stage of my life.

I have collected all my stories in this book, most importantly so that they will not be forgotten. With all its advantages and disadvantages, this period is part of my life.

It taught me how to appreciate the little things, as well as the big things, like my family. It taught me how to face difficult situations, and helped me to become who I am today.

It is the umbilical cord that still connects me with my homeland, even now that I am so far away. I received great encouragement from my old Economics professor at the University of Bologna, Grazia Mezzetti, who encouraged me to write and publish the book in Italian.

My dear friend Chris Tyas, encouraged me to tranlsate it from Italian into English, which I did during the empty and boring days of Covid-19 crisis. Here it is now, translated into English with the precious help of Jonathan Campion, an English copywriter with a passion for autobiographies, and stories from the old Communist Bloc.

. .