In the context of the industry of Asti in the second half of the 19th century, the factory of phosphoric sulphur matches established by the brothers Secondo and Stefano Boschiero, located in the district of San Francesco (in Via Solari), had a prominent position.
The kitchen matches produced there were in wood, with head immersed in the sulphur for about one centimeter, which explains their name. Boxes containing these matches (in Piedmontese dialect called “brichet”) were colored and decorated with always different subjects, then beloved by collectors, from Asti and not only.
In 1850 the company already had 50 employees and 150 at the end of the 19th century.
The factory was moved in Corso Ivrea in 1886, after the death of Secondo Boschiero, happened when he was only 60 years old, and it was bought for 30.000 Lit. by Gastaldi and Rossetti in 1888; after, the business was sold in 1902 to Saffa company from Milan, that will close it definitely in 1950.
The Boschiero brothers were both benefactors of Asti’s religious institutions.
Mister Stefano was portrayed in 1873 by Michelangelo Pittatore, a famous artist from Asti who attended the Academy of San Luca in Rome; in the work exhibited on the second floor of Mazzetti Palace he appears painted three-quarter as a ruddy and good-natured character, with big mustache and the eyes looking out toward the observer.
In the city public gardens, called “Parco della Resistenza”, the monument dedicated to his brother Secondo is placed; under the half-bust sculpture, depicting him with a proud look and big mustache, you can see a group of sculptures including a female figure with some children supporting the coat of arm of Asti and the following inscription:
“HE GAVE HIS GOOD
TO NEW MOTHERS, CHILDREN
AND PEOPLE CHRONICALLY IN NEED.
Asti, 10th October 1903”
The poor new women of the city were actually destined, by the will of this businessman, a subsidy of 25 Lit. on the occasion of each new birth.
The author of the monument created by the Opera Pia, established by Secondo Boschiero, is the sculptor Materno Giribaldi, already mentioned in our magazines, who titled the marble group “La Carità che solleva l’Infanzia.” (“The Charity raises the Childhood”).
A commemorative plaque located in Via Angelo Brofferio 100 recalls that the entrepreneur and benefactor Secondo Boschiero lived and died there, who was also a city councillor, while a side street of Via Bocca (overlooking the “Casa di Riposo Città di Asti” nursing home) was named after him in 1911 by the Municipality.
The memory of these two entrepreneurs who, with a spirit of initiative, have literally been able to illuminate and warm the hearts and homes of the people of Asti, with particular attention to the humble, is always alive.
