Report on the activity carried out in the year 2022
Characters and institutional activities of the Paolo Cresci Foundation
The Paolo Cresci Foundation for the History of Italian Emigration aims to promote knowledge of historical and social phenomena related to emigration from the 19th century to the present day.
The Foundation Archives contains thousands of letters, photos, official documents, period newspapers and memorabilia of great rarity, only a small part of which is on display in the museum. The Archives constitutes the most important existing collection on the phenomenon, collecting about 15,000 items in addition to new acquisitions. Connected to the Archives is a specialized Library on emigration of over 1300 titles. Both the Archives and the Library are enriched by donations from private individuals and acquisitions of rare texts on the antiquarian market. The Foundation Archives is notified by the Ministry of Culture, and the Museum is recognized as a Museum of Regional Significance by the Region of Tuscany. It also possesses a rich Mediatheque that mainly collects self-produced films. The material, stored in special closed cabinet has a consistency of 4 ml. The films are available to schools, scholars, enthusiasts and some on the YouTube channel and on the website www.museoemigrazioneitaliana.org.
These are audiovisual materials made for film production and during projects abroad and research activities in Italy.
The Foundation is included in the three-year table of the Ministry of Culture as an outstanding cultural institution and eligible for funding.
Due to the topicality of the emigration/immigration theme, the Foundation promotes activities to raise awareness of these realities with cultural events, conferences, debates and publishes texts on the history of Italian emigration.
It organizes photographic and documentary exhibitions, edits a series entitled "Quaderni della Fondazione Paolo Cresci" which has reached No. 12, promotes events, mainly aimed at schools, on the theme of migration, participates in national events (exhibitions, performances, research activities, etc.).
Promotes study and research activities on historical and contemporary realities of migration phenomena with collection of testimonies to old and new protagonists of Italian emigration. It has produced a film on contemporary youth emigration entitled "Italia addio, non tornerò" presented in various Italian and foreign venues and broadcast by national broadcasters (Mediaset) and, recently, one on Astor Piazzolla on the centenary of his birth that takes into consideration the musician's maternal ancestors who emigrated from Garfagnana at the end of the 19th century.
By guaranteeing an archival and bibliographic research service (library and media library), it constitutes a point of reference for scholars of Italian emigration, production houses of historical films on Italian and foreign emigration. By making available online upon request the "Bollettino italiano dell'emigrazione" (a work published by the Commissariato per l'emigrazione from 1907 to 1926, which is difficult to find) after a digitization work that lasted several years (36,600 scans), it offers scholars from all over the world the possibility of accessing a fundamental study tool on the research topic of Italian emigration.
Completed the first phase of digitizing rare texts on the history of emigration so that they can be made available to scholars online, creating the first online library on this subject.
Operates the Paolo Cresci Museum with daily openings (open morning to afternoon every day of the week except Monday) offering visitors guided tours, educational workshops, etc. The museum is at the forefront of ensuring accessibility for the disabled, blind and visually impaired (Braille guide, objects for tactile perception, etc.), deaf (L.I.S. language guide), has audio guides in three languages, with disposable earphones. It pursues the expansion of users towards initiatives aimed at young people and new citizens: by means of QR codes on the panels of the exhibition route, it is possible to connect to the Foundation's website under "Museum" which is available in 9 (nine) languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Romanian, Albanian.
In 2022, the year that marked the 25th anniversary of Paolo Cresci's passing, the Paolo Cresci Foundation reached the milestone of twenty years of activity.
Thus, the focus of the many initiatives held was the celebration of this important milestone, which represents a significant success and positive response to the goals that the Foundation pursues.
Exhibitions
Show Paper Ships. One hundred years of Italian emigration overseas.
The exhibition held as a tribute to the memory of Paolo Cresci, on the 25th anniversary of his death, was also an opportunity to celebrate the Foundation's 20 years of activity
In collaboration with journalist and collector of memorabilia and historical documents on Italian emigration, Massimo Cutò, a former research partner of Paolo Cresci, the exhibition featuring ship posters and advertising material from major European shipping companies, dating from the late 19th century to the early decades of the following century, was created, inviting emigrants to leave their homeland and cross the ocean to attempt the American adventure.
These are largely posters, brochures, and publications that show the stylistic features and aesthetic taste between Eclecticism and Art Deco and constitute an unstudied sector of the phenomenon in the "Great Emigration" period.
The presentation of period films, and modern docufilms (including the events of the emigration to Argentina of Hugo Pratt creator and illustrator of the stories of Corto Maltese) also highlighted how the archival heritage of the Cresci Foundation, that of collectors and other institutions can dialogue, providing important opportunities for in-depth historical and cultural study.
The exhibition presented with settings, period footage and original documents and artifacts, created on a stage design by Alessandro Sesti, was enhanced by the soundtrack specially composed by maestro Gianmarco Caselli.
Inauguration September 13, 2022
"Paper Ships" to raise awareness of the sometimes tragic history of migrants who boarded ships in search of fortune. An exciting exhibition discovering journeys among hopes, dreams and disappointments.
Interventions by:
Mario Pardini - Mayor of Lucca;
Luca Menesini - President of the Province of Lucca;
Ave Marchi - President of the Paolo Cresci Foundation;
Ilaria Del Bianco - President of the Lucchesi nel Mondo Association;
Raffaele Domenici - Vice president Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca;
Massimo Cutò - Curator of the exhibition;
Pietro Luigi Biagioni - Director of Paolo Cresci Foundation.
Actor Alessandro Bertolucci was tasked with reading selected excerpts from the book "On the Ocean" by Edmondo De Amicis.
Show Mountains migrating Transhumance in Garfagnana and the Serchio Valley.
The phenomenon of seasonal migration of flocks from the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines to the Lucchese Plain, but also in the Maremma of Livorno and Grosseto, constituted a peculiar aspect of pastoralism in the Serchio Valley unsuited to sedentary practices given the climatic characteristics of the area. The project stems from an awareness of the rarity of transhumant pastoral activity and the presence of the last protagonists of seasonal emigration, with interesting social and cultural implications of exchanges between host and guest communities.
The exhibition panels, which are movable and thus suitable for replicating the event, feature archival documents for historical aspects, photographic images of the area and material evidence (stalls, sacred majesties, paths, troughs, stazzi, etc.), and transcripts of direct interviews with the last bearers of the tradition.
Presentations
Show Mountains that migrate Transhumance from Garfagnana and Serchio Valley.
Display of the traveling exhibition Migrating mountains, curated by Lucia Giovannetti and Pietro Luigi Biagioni in the Lorenzetti palace in Sillico, municipality of Pieve Fosciana, as part of the Transnational project CamBio Via
July 30-31
Display of the traveling exhibition Migrating mountains, curated by Lucia Giovannetti and Pietro Luigi Biagioni on the premises of the Don Luigi Pellegrini Provincial Ethnographic Museum in San Pellegrino in Alpe as part of the Transnational Project CamBio Via sponsored by the Tuscany Region
Aug. 7-31
Display of the traveling exhibition Migrating mountains, edited by Lucia Giovannetti and Pietro Luigi Biagioni in Alberese (Grosseto), as part of the Transnational Project CamBio Via sponsored by the Tuscany Region
Sept. 10-11
Display of the traveling exhibition Migrating mountains, curated by Lucia Giovannetti and Pietro Luigi Biagioni in the Ancient Armory of the Ducal Palace in Lucca, as part of the Transnational project CamBio Via sponsored by the Tuscany Region
Tuscan folk song performance with tradition bearers Paola Bertoncini and Marco Betti. Traditional music of the shepherds of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines performed on bagpipes by ethnomusicologist Luca Gherardi.
December 18, 2022-January 8, 2023
Opening of the exhibition Best wishes from us who are far away I Lucchese plaster cribs to enhance the craft tradition in relation to the phenomenon of emigration.
Letters and greeting cards from all over the world as the approach of the holiday season rekindles homesickness and family. The tradition of plaster figurines in the making of the characters that animate the nativity scene, presented through important antique statues by the Arte Barsanti company of Bagni di Lucca, the last custodian of this centuries-old activity, strongly linked to the phenomenon of migration from the Serchio Valley.
December 6
Show Best wishes from us who are far away
The exhibition presents to the public, on the occasion of Christmas, a traditional activity of Lucchese emigration, that of the figurinai, an itinerant trade typical of the Serchio Valley from the 17th to the 20th century, whose workers moved to sell their products throughout Europe and America.
These were artisans, shapers of small plaster statues with religious or decorative subjects that adorned petty-bourgeois living rooms and the characters used to set up domestic nativity scenes. This was an itinerant trade that obliged the members of the "companies" (formers, finishers, colorists, salesmen) to spend long periods abroad maintaining through letters and photos their relationships with their families.
Letters and greeting cards from all over the world as the approaching holiday season rekindles homesickness and family
The exhibition was set up in the Chapel of S:Maria della Rotonda of the Ducal Palace with illustrated panels, projections and the display of ancient plaster statues provided by the Arte Barsanti company of Bagni di Lucca last traditional plaster statue production company.
The inauguration was preceded by the lighting of the Christmas Tree by the Paolo Cresci Foundation and the Province of Lucca. In attendance were the "Born to Read" readers, gathered at the end of the course organized by BiblioLucc@ - Network of libraries and archives in the province and curated by the Children's Health Center of Trieste.
The exhibition was open to the public from December 8, 2022 to January 8, 2023
Publications
Carla Sodini book presentation Strength to courage.Biographies and stories of emigrants from Lucca in the 14th-19th centuries. "Notebooks of the Paolo Cresci Foundation for the History of Italian Emigration," no. 11
A volume that contains no less than 46 short stories, some short others longer, that tell the stories and vicissitudes of Lucchese emigration from 1300 to 1800, thus well before the great exoduses that occurred in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.
The stories are dedicated to particular characters who carried out, abroad, important activities or were protagonists of events sometimes little known but nevertheless linked to inventiveness and a spirit of adventure. While drawing on the history of emigration from Lucca, the writings mostly deal with figures who chose to leave their homeland for reasons of professional affirmation in the business, artistic, literary, religious, military and journalistic fields. But there are also silent stories of unfortunate fortune-tellers and men mixed up in the vicissitudes of the great events of history
Friday, April 8 Mario Tobino Hall of the Ducal Palace of Lucca
Interventions of
Alessandro Bedini
Amos Bertolacci,
ValterVecellio
VIDEO of the presentation of Carla Sodini's book "Strength and Courage. biographies and stories of emigrants from Lucca in the 14th-19th centuries." Notebooks of the Paolo Cresci Foundation, no. 11
Massimo Cutò, Pietro Luigi Biagioni, Ships of paper: one hundred years of overseas emigration, Lucca, Paolo Cresci Foundation for the History of Italian Emigration, 2022.
Catalogo della Mostra Paper Ships. One hundred years of Italian emigration overseas.
Teaching and training activities
PCTO (Pathways for Soft Skills and Orientation)
Activated by the Paolo Cresci Foundation with the fourth classes of I.S.I. Carrara-Nottolini-Busdraghi in Lucca.
Transversal skills and orientation took place through the Paper Ships and Mountains Migrating exhibitions, organized in September-December, and were the backbone of the activity agreed upon with teachers and PCTO liaisons.
"School and memory" at I.T.C. "Francesco Carrara" in Lucca: lecture and film screening: Arandora Star a forgotten tragedy
An in-depth historical study of the forgotten tragedy of the ship Arandora Star proposed and developed by Paolo Cresci Foundation director Pietro Luigi Biagioni, which involved students from the high school classes of the I.T.C. " Francesco Carrara" of Lucca, was an opportunity to deepen and rediscover a tragic history of the 20th century.
Arandora Star, a Forgotten Tragedy, the story of a ship that in the aftermath of the outbreak of World War II carried hundreds of Italian emigrants who had been living in Scotland for years, integrating into that social fabric as small businessmen in the trade and restaurant industry. Considered potential enemies, stunned and in disbelief of their fate, they were taken aboard the steamer to be deported to Canada, a colony of the United Kingdom. Torpedoed by a German submarine, the ship sank: more than 700 people died, 500 of whom were Italian emigrants. The story told by the docufilm Arandora star, a forgotten tragedy, co-produced by the Paolo Cresci Foundation for the History of Italian Emigration and Noi TV was presented to the classes as part of the cultural exchanges that also saw an experience of alternating school work with the valuable collaboration of several classes in the management of the exhibition "Giro giro tondo, gioca il mondo," set up in December in the Tobino Room of the Ducal Palace.
February 22
FAMᴜ, ʟᴀ Gɪᴏʀɴᴀᴛᴀ Nᴀᴢɪᴏɴᴀʟᴇ ᴅᴇʟʟᴇ ғᴀᴍɪɢʟɪᴇ ᴀʟ Mᴜsᴇᴏ!
Different but the same
On the occasion of FAMu 2022 edition, the Museum offered educational workshops for children ages 5-10 and animations for older children on themes and suggestions presented to visitors by the Exhibition "Ships of Paper. One Hundred Years of Italian Emigration Overseas."
October 9
Educational workshops what a passion!
As part of initiatives on the sidelines of the exhibition "Ships of Paper, One Hundred Years of Italian Emigration Overseas," several male and female students grappled with Corto Maltese, Migrant Sailor!
With Lucia Morelli,an expert in museum and cultural heritage education, the students of the Istituto Comprensivo di Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
October 12
Course on cataloguing taught by Prof Emanuele Pellegrini (IMT Scuola Alti studi Lucca)
Introduction to the subject of cataloging and cataloging of objects of cultural interest. The purpose of the meeting was to provide some historical background.
Starting with a discussion of the relationship with the concept of inventory, the meeting aimed to verify the historical premises of inventorying groups of objects deemed to be of special interest (works of art, scientific instruments, etc.).
November 24
Online course: The digital transformation of cultural heritage: digital content for museums.
The course, held online over several days, aimed to provide methodological and informational insights to museum operators in the province of Lucca, and in particular those adhering to the Museum System, on the educational, exhibition and communication perspectives offered by new digital technologies. Innovative systems and experiences made in Italy and Europe in terms of enhancing and implementing the fruition of museum realities (photo reconstructions, augmented reality, holography, etc.) were illustrated.
The lectures were given by the owner of the Brescia-based firm Carraro Lab, one of the most advanced businesses in the sector nationwide.
June 23-30
Acquisition of new documentary material
The acquisition of funds related to new documentary material and emigration memorabilia donated by families and collectors or purchased on the antiques market continues.
We recall, among the most original and significant, the one from the archives of a Salerno travel agency that between the 1930s and 1950s specialized in offering "passages" to America to emigrants from southern Italy and Campania in particular.
Digitization of documentary material
One of the goals of the Paolo Cresci Foundation for the year 2022 was to implement activities in the area of digitization and online communication, increasing the IT equipment and professional skills of operators, including through targeted training actions.
Cultural promotion and/or organization activities
Ceremonies in memory of Paolo Cresci in Fosciandora (Lu) his adopted town.
Twenty-five years after Paolo Cresci's passing, the Municipality of Fosciandora recalled his tireless activity as a scholar of the history of Italian emigration, linking his name to the Center for Childhood, Adolescence and the Family, to point him out as a model for new generations. In fact, in Fosciandora Cresci had relatives on his mother's side and it was here that he met Silvana, who was later his wife, and thus became his adopted country.
The center named after Paolo Cresci is located a stone's throw from the town hall and is a social gathering place for youth and families as well as village associations.
The evening was enriched by the presentation of Gugliemo Franchi's volume entitled "The Scent of Helichrysum, Emigrating with My Grandparents to Late 19th Century America."
Also presented to the public was an exhibition of documents collected by Paolo Cresci entitled When the Tuscans discovered "La Merica", 18 panels that with period photos and documents describe emigration from our land to precisely America.
August 15
Presentation of the documentary Mr. Wonderful in Bolognana (Gallicano)
The documentary made by the American company Awen Film in co-production by the Paolo Cresci Foundation, tells the story of Zeffirino Poli an emigrant who left Bolognana, a hamlet of Gallicano, very poor to emigrate first to France as a plaster statuette molder, then to America where he opened an exhibition of plaster statues of famous people to which he combined small theatrical and avant-garde shows. The success of the venture was such that within a few years he became one of the largest theatrical impresarios in North America, collaborating with the most famous international actors of the day including Charlie Chaplin. The documentary was presented to the people of the businessman's hometown with an introduction by Luca Peretti, an early 20th century film historian. Present was opera singer Luana Pellegrineschi, a direct descendant of Zeffirino Poli. The film was recently broadcast on RAI 3.
The book by Marcello Mazzanti was presented on the occasion. Mama look, a fictionalized account that crosses the events of Zeffirino Poli's life with those of the emigration of the figurine makers who set out from the village of Bolognana to sell plaster figurines all over the world.
August 2
Participation in International Museum Day 2022
On the International Day of Museums, established by ICOM in 1977, with the aim of making them aware of their value as an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples, the Paolo Cresci Museum participated through the VIDEO presentation of the Museum and with initiatives to enhance the emigration/immigration theme as an important element in understanding contemporary social dynamics.
May 18
Documentary Garfagnana for Astor Piazzolla
Realization of a DVD box set of the documentary Garfagnana for Astor Piazzolla on the occasion of the centenary of his birth.
On the centenary of the birth of musician Astor Piazzolla, the Paolo Cresci Foundation, produced, directed by Abraham Rossi and in collaboration with broadcaster NOI TV, the documentary Garfagnana for Astor Piazzolla. The film, lasting about 30 minutes, presents archival documents, old photos and unpublished testimonies in Italy and Argentina to relatives and acquaintances of the great musician whose maternal ancestors emigrated in the late 19th century from Massa Sassorosso, in the municipality of Villa Collemandina. The film, broadcast by the local broadcaster Noi TV in the column I Colori del Serchio, was edited into a DVD box set and disseminated in schools and among admirers of the famous musician.
Musical and theatrical performances
Concert of traditional pastoral music
Concert curated by Pietro Lino Grandi and Elena Battaglini on the premises of the Don Luigi Pellegrini Provincial Ethnographic Museum in San Pellegrino in Alpe, as part of the project CamBio Via sponsored by the Tuscany Region
August 8
Theatrical performance by Michele Neri: For a Mediterranean Sea of Peace, a Sea of Stories.
Fairy tales and legends from the different countries bordering our Sea at the Paolo Cresci Museum. A geographical carpet-paper of the Mediterranean. Lots of stories, curious, strange and funny, for each shore on which our ship arrives. Know and appreciate diversity to grow and not be afraid of what comes from afar. To listen, traditions and customs that, we also find close to us. To realize that, like people, stories also travel.
September 29
Entertainment Not only heart
A performance by Michele Neri on emigration told through a reading path starting with "On the Ocean" in which Edmondo de Amicis in 1889. A masterfully crafted description of his actual journey to the Americas.
De Amicis recounts, with great participation, the misery and tenacity of the migrant people. The division into classes brings back the diversity of daily living, ambitions and things left behind forever. The different perspectives of those who left everything behind to find themselves at the mercy of even worse conditions, at the mercy of profiteers and petty pimps. It describes those who, on the other hand, set out with all the comforts, for pure enjoyment, or for the innate spirit of adventure. With the ambition to climb even further up the social ladder, to acquire a new position and take advantage of possibilities unthinkable in Italy, but possible in the New World 🌍
The ship will turn out to be a microcosm, a miniature of the world with its unpredictable and multifaceted situations.
Oct. 14
Friend museum 2022 Tuscany Region project PEACE, PEACE, PEACE !
Welcoming initiative and guided tour of the Paolo Cresci Museum by a large group of Ukrainian children staying in refugee care facilities in Lucca
May 17
Activities to promote accessibility for the blind: Emigration Trail in the Municipality of Pescaglia (Lu)
In collaboration with the Paolo Cresci Foundation, which provided images and texts, the municipality of Pescaglia (Lucca) created a path for the blind along a trail, in the shade of centuries-old chestnut trees, that winds through a large area of the municipality's territory. The chosen theme was that of emigration, a phenomenon that is very much felt in the territory of the municipality because it was the land from which many people left to go and work abroad.
Participation in the Annual Celebration of the Day of Tuscans in the World presentation in the Tuscany Region of the documentary The Garfagnana for Astor Piazzolla
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati - Sala Pegaso. According to Art. 36 of Law 26/2009, "the Day of Tuscans in the World is established, to be held annually" on a date proposed by the President of the Regional Council. For this year, it was decided to schedule the Day of Tuscans in the World at the conclusion of the work of the New Council of Tuscans in the World, which returns to meet after several years of inactivity, and to give the Presidents of the associations abroad, with remote connections to be able to meet the new councilors.
During the day, the documentary on Astor Piazzola's Garfagnana origins on his mother's side, made by the Paolo Cresci Foundation, "Garfagnana for Astor Piazzolla," was screened. The documentary dubbed in Spanish for compatriots residing in Latin America is Broadcast in live streaming on Nov. 23, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlO_jV9G9D8
The Paolo Cresci Foundation and its role in coordinating the Territorial Museum System of the Province of Lucca
The Foundation is the leader of the Territorial Museum System of the Province of Lucca and is responsible for its coordination. For the Museum System, which has reached the quota of 27 adherents , the Foundation identifies guidelines in order to decline an overall strategy capable of improving its services, enhancing the collections and raising the professional quality of museum employees. It plans initiatives, promotes and enhances the member realities, participates in calls for proposals and is committed to the implementation of projects proposed by the technical committee and approved by the assembly of museums. The financial commitment envisaged for individual museums, sized in relation to their importance and legal nature, allows them to collect, through membership fees amounts that, in addition to offering common services as a return, constitute the co-financing resources necessary to access calls for projects both local (Banking Foundations) and regional and national.
The goal is to quantitatively and quantitatively improve the services offered by seeking funding sources to achieve more than effective fundraising and optimization of resources due to economy of scale.
The activities carried out jointly are cultural, scientific, educational and cognitive, promotion, communication and management.
Specifically in 2022, the projects of the Lucca Museum System have been directed on the following activities:
Museum Safety Project
Aims to foster cooperation among museums and ensure financial sustainability by maximizing expenditures with the creation of joint projects for the improvement of museum services for the right of access to culture for all, and to carry out planning on safety measures for workplaces and museums
The concept of accessibility is intended to promote actions to improve access to cultural heritage, particularly for young and disadvantaged people, in order to raise awareness of its value, the need to preserve and conserve it, and the benefits that can be derived from it.
Security, on the other hand, is defined as the presence of the elements to prevent and cope with situations such as fire, theft, medical situations such as Covid-19 in order to ensure proper preservation of materials and safe enjoyment by visitors.
Therefore, a professional assignment was entrusted to specialized technicians to assess the current status of the System's museums with regard to security and accessibility and the subsequent indication of the measures needed to improve and make efficient and effective the various aspects under which museum and cultural venue accessibility and security are presented.
The "Festival of the Museum System of the Province of Lucca named. The Smile Museums"
The Project constituted the first edition of the Festival that aimed to activate multidisciplinary art initiatives at the Museums (from music to theater, painting to sculpture, comedy to acrobatic performances, etc.).
It was aimed at the involvement of the territory's community, the encouragement of greater attendance at the Museums and the invitation for new users to get to know the museums present. The Festival was held in the summer-autumn of 2022 with a calendar full of about 60 events, held individually at museums and others organized by the Museum System that involved the entire provincial territory from Versilia to the Plain of Lucca, from Mediavalle del Serchio to Garfagnana, both inside museums and in theaters and city spaces.
Theater companies and actors/actresses, musicians and artists mainly from the provincial or regional area participated, so as to foster awareness of local artists and promote their activities.
The Foundation, as the lead partner, played the coordinating role in the organization and management of the Festival; it also fulfilled the administrative and reporting functions.
Other activities
July 2, 1940 - July 2, 2022 Arandora Star. The Forgotten Tragedy."
On the NOITV television station, as part of the weekly television column. The colors of the Serchio, an episode dedicated to the anniversary of the sinking of the Arandora Star was made. . After a presentation by Pietro Luigi Biagioni, the documentary Arandora Star. The forgotten tragedy. The column "The Colors of the Serchio" records each episode, a share of about 100,000 users.
July 2
International Women's Rights Day
For many years after the Second World War, the date March 8 was associated with the deaths of hundreds of female workers in the 1908 New York City shirt factory fire.
Acknowledging the confusion with a tragedy that actually occurred in New York on March 25, 1911, it is certain that the rights of working women, as well as men, still need to be remembered. Many young female emigrants of Italian and Jewish origin died in that fire: a sad page in the history of emigration
The anniversary remembered via the Foundation's social media
March 8
World Bicycle Day Cycling at the Museum
More than 100 years ago in Australia... Giuseppe Torlai, a native of Villa Collemandina in Garfagnana, has his picture taken with his friends on a bicycle with the autographed note "in memory of posterity": the bicycle, here probably provided by the photographic studio, was the dream of the hard-working man who hoped to buy it...
The museum joins the initiative by offering cyclists who have arrived at the museum popular materials and souvenir gadgets.
June 3
Presentation of the documentary Garfagnana for AstorPiazzolla
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the death of musician Astor Piazzolla, the documentary was shown again on NOI TV, in the program "The Colors of the Serchio," the documentary "Garfagnana for AstorPiazzolla." with a new and presentation by our Director and President.
The approximately 30-minute film presents archival documents, old photos and unpublished testimonies in Italy and Argentina to relatives and acquaintances of the great Argentine musician whose maternal ancestors emigrated in the late 19th century from Massa Sassorosso, in the municipality of Villa Collemandina
July 9 with repeats the following days
66th Anniversary of the Marcinelle Tragedy
National Day of the Sacrifice of Italian Labor in the World.
Posted on Social the message of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella
"I turn my heartfelt thoughts to the miners who perished in Marcinelle on August 8, 1956. That tragedy cost the lives of, among others, 136 compatriots. Since 2001 the anniversary has been proclaimed 'National Day of the Sacrifice of Italian Labor in the World' so that, in remembrance of what happened at the Bois du Cazier,the memory of all Italians who fell at work abroad may be honored. "The emigration of our compatriots and the sacrifice it entailed,have marked Italy's identity and also the very process of European integration. The painful experiences of migrant workers, matured in the decades preceding the Maastricht Treaty, urged the promotion of workers' rights at the European level, contributing to the creation of a cohesive, solidarity-based Europe, also based on a social pillar."
August 8
Lucca's white night
A huge success the 2022 edition of White Night, number 9 since its inception, and especially, in the year of its restart after the stop imposed by anti covid restrictions. 19. The Foundation participated with the evening opening, also providing free guided tours.
August 27
Presentation of the exhibition catalog "The New Barga: Architecture and Decorative Arts between Art Nouveau and Eclectic Style"
At the exhibition with period documents and images, organized by the Ricci Foundation in Barga, the Foundation collaborated by lending important period documents and photographs of Barga emigrants.
September 9
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