An old word

The marker pen that I occasionally need and use was there with the text clearly visible. 'Colli' - I thought. Huh? is there a special pen for marking colli?

I remember, a long time ago, in the thirties, in the end of May - early June, when we were getting ready to move to the summer cottage at sea, for the next three months until September - and we were packing, blankets and bed sheets, bath towels and bathing suits, cooking utensils, toys and medicines. 

There were suitcases, boxes and trunks. My mother was in charge of it all, she was seeing to it that everything was packed well, and she was counting the colli. A man with a cart came to get the larger colli, the trunks and boxes to the train station. In those days the long journeys were made by train. Once in Turku, the port, we moved to the passenger ship to get to the village on the island where the cottage was.

And my mother was checking one more time that all of the colli were there.

Collo, pl.colli is an italian loanword  meaning a small packing unit, in logistics.