SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1958
HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON
PAGE FrVE
What's All The Fuss? Asks Italian Who Changed From Girl To Boy
Editor's Note: The world was
startled recently when word came
out of a small Italian village about
a peasant family whose "daugh
ters" were being changed into
sons in almost wholesale numbers.
United Press International sent a
reporter to visit the family for
the firsthand story which follows.
By ERNEST SAKLER
United Press International
GIFFONE, Italy (UPI) The
young man was black-haired, very
small, belligerent, and didn't look
at all as though he'd ever been a
girl.
Standing there in the field, a
hoe on his shoulder and his pret
ty, 15-year-old wife, Serafina, by
his side, Vittorio Alvaro didn't
want to answer questions.
Yes, he was 23 years old, Vit
torio conceded, and. it was just
three years ago that he went to a
clinic and became a girl-into-boy.
But it wasn't, much of a story.
Why so much interest?
To Vittorio's fellow-villagers, as
to Vittorio himself, it was nothing
to get excited about. He had never
behaved like a girl anyway "al
ways running after girls," he ad
mitted with a grin. The village
didn't find it too exciting that a
person's sex should be set straight.
Thai's what those hospitals in the
cities were for.
To doctors, however, Vittorio and
Papal Farm
To Establish
Angus Herd
Breeders or registered Aberdeen
Angus cattle in the United States
are providing a foundation breed
ing herd for the Papal Farm near
Rome, Italy, according to Monsig
nor L. G. Ligutti, executive di
rector of the National Catholic Ru
ral Life Conference of America
with headquarters in Dcs Moines,
Iowa.
The desire to place a fine
breeding herd of beef cattle on
the Papal 3Tarm occurred when
Pope Pius XII and Dr. Bonomel
li, manager of the farm, became
concerned over Ihe lack of beef
cattle in Italy and Southern Eu
rope. They approached Monsignor
Ligutti, seeking to remedy the sit
uation with the best type of beef
cattle and he urged that they ob
tain Aberdeen-Angus from the
United States.
Their plan is to start their Pap
al Farm beef herd wilh at least
14 registered Aberdeen-Angus heif
ers and one bull, hoping that the
Generosity of American breeders
will make this number possible. As
the herd increases, bulls and heif
ers will be given, not sold, to
proven worthy poor farmers and
to charitable institutions (hospitals,
homes for the aged, orphanages,
etc.) that operate farms. This long
range program should, within a
reasonable number of years, great
ly increase the supply of quality
beef as well as elevate the stand
ard of living of many Southern
Europe farmers. It will also aid
in expanding the Angus breed in
the world.
A few Angus breeders in the
Midwest have already dunatcd a
number of registered cattle for the
foundation herd. Don C. Houston
of Iownna Angus Farm, Dtinlap.
Iowa, has contributed a bull and
has offered his farm as an assem
bly point for the herd prior to its
shipment to Italy.
Other heifers have been offered
from herds in Iowa. South Dakota,
and Montana, but a few more are
needed to complete the herd. Any
one wishing to assist in tills pro
gram by giving a registered yearl
ing Angus heiter should not iiy Mr
Houston. The Rev. Leo J. Gannon.
Harlan, Iowa, has been appointed
treasurer of the funds needed for
paying the cost of transportation I
of the cattle to the Papal Farm!
which is 15 miles south of Rome.
his family were wonderful speci
mens, mere were no less than
five cases in the family of women
who had or could have turned
man. One of Vittorio's sisters had
done so, at the same time he was
corrected. Another was going to
be. And then there were Vittorio's
two aunts, his mother's sisters,
who could have used sex-change
surgery if it had been advanced
enough in their time.
Vittorio finally told his story re
luctantly, letting it be known that
as a hard working peasant high up
in the hills of Calabria ("it is a
poor land") he didn't have time to
stand there gabbing.
As Vittorio told it. it didn't sound
like much of a story.
When he was born he was a girl
and they called him Rosa Marina
and they combed his hair into
tresses. But he never quite felt
like a girl and would rovo the
fields climbing trees and walls and
fighting with boys and doing other
ungirlish things. He would play
cards in the inns and go around at
night strumming serenades on his
mandolin.
Oh, yes, there was his younger
sister, Maria Antonia, who was also
like that, only shyer. And there
were the two aunts, Pasqualina
Sorbara who is now dead and Mi-
chelina who Is alive, in her 50s,
wears men's shoes and carries a
whip.
For a few summers Vittorio
at that time still Rosa Marina
worked as a housemaid in nearby
Cinquefronde. Then Rosa Marina
heard of a girl who became a man
in the town of Cittanova and was
called Edoardo Simonctta. She de
cided she wanted a sex change
too.
It took some time to get a doc
tor interested, Vittorio said. But
Dr. Salvatore Musumeci, a sur
geon in Catania, Sicily, heard of
the case. In 1955, Rosa Marina and
Maria Antonia went to his clinic
rend on July 23 that year became
Vittorio and Antonio.
Antonio is now 19 and helps out
in the fields. He was away from
home, looking for seasonal work
in northern Italy. He hasn't found
a girl friend yet because he is shy
and also because he wants to mar
ry a rich girl now that his name
has been in the papers.
It took three years, until this
summer, to get the sex changes
recognized by a court order, and
the bureaucratic machinery hasn't
quite caught up with it yet. In the
general elections in May this year,
Vittorio had to vote with a wom
an's certificate.
Ho is not eligible for military
service because he is a family
head now, but Antonio may be
drafted next year.
That was about all Vittorio had
to tell, except for the fact that he
has a three-year-old sister, Fran
cesca Giuseppina, who also needs
a sex change and will get it in
the next few months.
In Catania, Dr. Musumeci said
it had taken him considerable time
and biological and psychological
tests to decide if Vittorio had bet
ter be a boy or a girl.
"Vittorio Alvaro was a typical
instance of a genuine hermaphro
dite," the Sicilian surgeon said.
"He had both inward and outward
characteristics of both sexes. Bio
logical tests failed to prove decis
ive, but psychological tests showed
the male side was predominant in
his character and I made my de
cision on the basis of that."
The case of Antonio was sim
pler, Dr. Musumeci said. He was
a "false hermaphrodite ot me te
male type," meaning that his in
ner organs were male and only
outward characteristics were fe
male.
Both were prepared psychologi
cally before being operated on, Dr
Musumeci said. They were placed
in the male section of the clinic
so they would become accustomed
to being among men. Their long
hair was first combed and then
cut.
Both were perfectly normal and
fit to marry and have children
when they left the clinic. Dr. Musu
meci said.
The surgeon said such sex
change operations "are not excep
tional" but require considerable
skill and knowledge. Ho said the
most interesting side of the Gittone
cases was their clear hereditary
factor, he believed centuries of
marriages between close kin in the
small hill village played a role in
it.
The heredity. Dr. Musumeci said,
came from the family of Vittorio's
mother, Caterina Sorbara. She her
self is normal, but the two masculine-looking
aunts were her sisters.
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