1973 began in a disastrous way with two tragedies. We lost our dear friend Marcello Addeo and Prof Antonio Arpaia. But it was also the real beginning of change. In the Parish (both in the Square and in Capomoschiano) new ideas were flourishing and we were looking for something new to propose to ourselves and to the people of Moschiano. I don't know how or to whom but the idea came (I think Don Salvatore) of a Via Crucis through the streets of Moschiano. I was still in the seminary and Don Salvatore asked me to write some meditations. I remember that I found a little book with some reflections and adapted them to our reality. I submitted them to Don Salvatore and Don Peppino and they corrected and integrated them. Then on April 15, 1973 (Palm Sunday) we celebrated the first Via Crucis from the balconies of houses all over Moschiano. That perhaps can be defined as the prototype of the most elaborate Sacred Representations that are still performed today (not on Good Friday, a very ancient tradition, but the Via Crucis). Less "show" but more meditation..

In the wake of the Via Crucis initiative, Don Salvatore decided to buy two camping tents and some sleeping bags and together we decided to do a "Camping at Charity". Yes, it was a somewhat "sui generis" campsite. We placed the tents under the pine trees that remained to the left of the Hall still under construction and now that there was a road, a lot of people, knowing that we were there, escaping from the summer heat, came to visit us, especially at dusk. I remember with pleasure the evenings spent talking with Salvatore Manfredi who returned from Venezuela and the lawyer Franco Addeo. We spent the time clearing the facade of the Sanctuary from weeds, going on excursions to the Pizzone, playing a kind of baseball or in the evening singing and playing the guitar. The songs that were out of tune but sung with passion by Gerardo Mazzocca and Franco Fiore on the wall of the square in front of the Sanctuary remained famous in my mind with the magnificent panorama of the valley that extended up to Vesuvius and Naples appearing before our eyes. It was then that our friend Pasquale Fortino discovered he had a talent for playing the drums. playing (so to speak) on Dash soap barrels. Pasquale also had an extraordinary idea for the "art of making do" series. We wanted to take a shower but we can't even talk about showers. So Pasquale proposed to put an iron bin that was there for the construction of the hall on the attic of the same on the bathroom side and fill it with water so that it would warm up with the sun during the day. We made a hole in the bottom and attached a piece of garden hose that let the water flow into a watering can we had found. We closed the pump with a piece of wax and string. To take a shower we went underneath, pulled the string, the piece of wax came off and the water began to flow from the bin into the watering can and then onto us. Once he had showered, he put the wax cap and string back on and filled the bin with water again for the next day. Clear example of ingenuity and, at the same time, of applied hydraulic and thermal engineering. J  

The youth group from Capomoschiano instead decided to go further (literally) and organized a campsite at Cerreta using a hut that I believe Eligio Dalia (later Dr Eligio) had on his farm. I remember the various Eligio, Peppino Ergastolo, Carmine Rega,  Marco Arpaia. Gigino Volino., Antonio Santaniello (the “red”) etc. all with unkempt beards at the end of 10-15 days in July. We visited them from time to time and spent time together under the chestnut trees. For years, photos of that experience were attached to the wall of the Capomoschiano Sacristy together with other relics such as some tiles from the Church of San Michele (which now no longer exists), large nails from an ancient crucifix and more. Who knows where all these things are now. In the meantime, I also found time to study for the high school leaving exam that I had to take on July 26th.

The summer of '73 saw another addition to the urban outline of Moschiano. The bells of the Church in the Square were electrified and on 19 September 1973 an electric clock donated by Mrs. Antonia Vivenzio and other fellow citizens residing in Venezuela was inaugurated. It was installed on the floor above the bells of the same bell tower. The commemorative plaque still reads "Horas non numero nisi senenas". Or “I only list the happy hours”. It was everyone's wish that year.

In '74 the girls also got busy. Don Salvatore had bought an electric organ  and the parish choir already formed a few years earlier was solidifying thanks to the contribution of Rosetta Cuozzo, Lilla Addeo, Lina Pacia, Michelina Ergastolo, Caterina Buonaiuto, Matilde Fiore, Anna Fiore, Emilia Addeo., Maria Mazzocca, and other girls.  For a few years now, I have been occasionally bringing records and/or scores of sacred and non-sacred songs from the Seminary to Moschiano (often Scouts songs or songs from the Gen groups of the Focolarini). Since I was in Naples I bought them from the Sisters of San Paolo near the Duomo and we took the songs for the mass from there. Gianni Cuozzo arranged them. Helping then were the usual Lino Pacia, Salvatore Aschettino, Felice Terracciano, Peppino Terracciano, Sergio Pacia, Enzo Manfredi, Alfonso Squitieri and many others. Those were the times of the so-called “Mass beat”.  The group  “Angeli della Strada” had in a certain way “evolved” even if it continued to exist. Many of our friends (the Aschettino sisters and brothers, the Vona family, Mast'Aniello and others) had emigrated to the USA in 1973 or were about to emigrate. It was then decided to form a new musical group in the parish with practically the same members plus Pasquale Fortino, Vincenzo Di Lauro and later Alfonso Squitieri. Not only could we have sung during religious ceremonies but, if requested, we could also have cheered up celebrations (weddings, baptisms, etc.) and thus raise funds for the Parish and the Sanctuary. 

But… the drums were missing. What do we do? We were not discouraged. Since it was summer and hazelnut harvesting time, we decided that we kids would all go together to help collect hazelnuts from our family's funds in turn and with the compensation that would be given to us, we would buy the drums.  We did so and Pasquale had his drums. “The Asteroids” were born

Meanwhile in '74 we were whistling "E tu" by Claudio Baglioni.

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