The Casa della Memoria of Urbisaglia, in collaboration with the Giustiniani Bandini Foundation and Meridiana Snc, is organizing a series of three conferences that will be held in the garden of Palazzo Giustiniani Bandini at the Abbadia di Fiastra (Urbisaglia, Italy).
It is precisely in this garden that, between 1940 and 1943, the internees of the Urbisaglia camp could walk, study and discuss among themselves: «This is our refreshment, our comfort, our joy!», wrote Carlo Alberto Viterbo in a letter of June 30, 1940 to his family, «A few grassy spaces, rare flowering plants, but tall, leafy, monumental, marvelous trees!».
Almost all the photos were taken in the garden: the group photo of the Slovenians and Austrians, the photo of the internees intent on following a lesson, or discussing among themselves, writing, reading, bathing in the fountain.
Each of these internees, however, looked “beyond the garden”, beyond that fence wall that represented their border.
«This series of conferences – explains President Giovanna Salvucci – aims to shed light on the human and personal dimensions of internment and will highlight the stories of three people who, through their diaries and their memories, have left us a precious legacy of experiences and reflections.»
The first conference will be held on Friday, July 4, at 6:30 p.m.
Angelo Ventrone, professor of Contemporary History at the University of Macerata and scientific director of the Casa della Memoria, will talk with Lidia Maggioli and Antonio Mazzoni, authors of the book Il Ponte Sette Luci. Biography of Giuseppe Levi Cavaglione (Metauro, 2012).
Giuseppe Levi Cavaglione (1911-1971), a Genoese anti-fascist, was interned in Urbisaglia and later in some municipalities of Pesaro. After September 8th, he joined the partisan groups: his book Guerriglia nei Castelli Romani (Einaudi, 1945) inspired the film Un giorno da Leoni by Nanni Loy.
On Friday 11 July, again at 6:30 pm, Giuseppe Lorentini, editor of the Online Documentation Centre on the Fascist Concentration Camp of Casoli (1940-1944), will present the book Internatite. An Unheard Voice from the Fascist Camps (1940-1943) by Fortunat Mikuletič (Round Robin Editrice, 2024).
Translated from Slovenian into Italian by Ravel Kodrič, this book represents an important step forward in bringing to light a fundamental, but often forgotten chapter in the social history of civil internment in fascist Italy.
Through the intimate story of Fortunat Mikuletič, a Slovenian lawyer from Trieste suspected of anti-fascist activities, the book immerses us in the daily life of the internment camps, illuminating with a human touch the years of internment in Corropoli (TE) and Casoli (CH).
The last appointment of the cycle will be held on Sunday 14 September at 5 pm.
Prof. Angelo Ventrone, architect Sara Baretta and prof. Gianni Orecchioni will provide an outline of the life of Nino Contini, a lawyer from Ferrara (1906-1944), who arrived at the Urbisaglia camp on 16 June 1940. From Urbisaglia Contini was soon transferred to the Tremiti Islands because, as written by the Prefecture of Macerata: «favoured as he is by a certain intelligence, and animated by a restless and combative spirit, Contini constitutes a danger to order and tranquility».
Subsequently interned in various locations in Molise, after September 8th, Nino Contini managed to reach, with his family, liberated Naples, where he resumed an intense political life in the Action Party and where he participated in negotiations between allies and representatives of the monarchy. He died in Naples in 1944, at the age of 38.
Nino Contini recorded in his Diaries, first in a very concise way, then more extensively, both the most minute events of his difficult daily life, with the responsibility of a beloved young wife and two small children to raise in view of a better future, and the most dramatic events of the world war and the anti-Jewish persecution in Italy, first only fascist and then Nazi.
The Diaries were published in 2012 by Giuntina: the page relating to June 13, 1940, the day on which Contini was arrested in Ferrara and translated, three days later, to Urbisaglia, was set to music by M° Luca Lombardi (RaiCom Edizioni Musicali, 2017).
It will be M° Lombardi himself who, in the garden of Palazzo Giustiniani Bandini, will introduce his composition Dal Diario di Nino Contini: 13.6.1940 for piano and baritone, which will then be performed by Nicholas Isherwood (baritone) and Luca Giarritta (piano).
The conferences are open to the public and aimed at students, researchers, history enthusiasts and anyone who wishes to deepen their knowledge of this historical period. It will be a unique opportunity to listen to authentic stories and to reflect on the importance of memory and human dignity.
All events will be held in the Garden of Palazzo Giustiniani Bandini, Abbadia di Fiastra, Urbisaglia (MC) and are free to enter. In case of rain there will be an indoor location. Info: Meridiana Snc 0733202942.
Internees in the garden of Palazzo Giustiniani Bandini, Urbisaglia, Italy (1940-1943)