Italian happiness trains

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Between 1945 and 1952, ‘happiness trains’ transported 70,000 children from southern to northern Italy to live with wealthier families.

It was a scheme organised by the Union of Italian Women and the Italian Communist Party in an attempt to make the lives of southern Italian children better.

Ten-year-old Bianca D’Aniello was one of the passengers to travel from Salerno in the south to Mestre in the north where she was looked after by a family with more resources.

Bianca’s life in Mestre was miserable because of Italy’s fascist regime and the devastation her city faced in the wake of World War Two. Her journey was nerve-racking as she jumped on a train for the first time saying goodbye to her mum and siblings. What she didn’t realise was what life had in store for her in her new life.

Bianca speaks to Natasha Fernandes about how that ‘happiness train’ changed her life forever.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Children on board an Italian 'happiness train' kiss and wave goodbye to their parents. Credit: Instituto Storico Modena)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, podcast fan. Consider this your invite to the UK's biggest podcasting party. We're heading to Sheffield from the 4th to the 6th of July for the BBC Sounds Fringe at the Crosswires Festival. We'll be joined by some of the biggest names in podcasting, including Sarah Cox, Charlie Hedges, Russell Kane, and some bloke called Greg James doing his Radio 4 show called Rewinder.
0:23.0	You can watch live shows of your favourite podcasts, and the best part is free.
0:28.0	To book your free tickets, go to crossedwires.org-slash fringe.
0:43.1	Hello, this is the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Natasha Fernandez, part of the witness history team. We're the podcast that takes you back to a key
0:48.1	moment in history through incredible archive and memories of a key witness. Episodes are just
0:53.7	nine minutes long and come out every weekday.
0:56.4	If that sounds like something you like, make sure you subscribe wherever you get your BBC
1:00.4	podcasts and turn your push notifications on so you never miss a show.
1:05.1	For the amazing story I've got for you today, we're going back to the southern Italian
1:09.1	streets of Salerno in 1947, when
1:12.1	hundreds of children boarded the Trenno della Felicita, or happiness train, waving goodbye to their
1:17.5	parents.
1:22.5	I thought the train didn't exist. I've never seen them before. Our faces were black because we like to open the windows. But suit came into the carriage from the train combustions. That's Bianca Danielo, recalling the moment when at 10 years old, she took a train for the first time, destination unknown.
1:49.2	Eight years before, World War II had broken out,
1:52.9	and in 1943, Bianca's hometown was targeted.
1:55.6	Within a week of the initial Allied invasion of Italy,
1:59.8	General Eisenhower extended his operations to points along the western seaboard.
2:01.5	One place to assume critical importance was Salerno. Lying offshore, the great armament of battleships and cruisers bombarded
2:06.7	the enemy positions.
2:12.5	Memories of misery and dirt, we didn't have water. There wasn't even water to drink, let alone to wash with.
2:21.2	In every family there was nothing to eat. I was almost dying. My lungs got sick because we didn't
2:28.1	eat. There was nothing. And children were falling ill with tuberculosis.
	...

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