The students of the “F. Enriques” Institute will christen from Monday 6 November the new “Paths of Memory” identified by the Municipality of Castelfiorentino as part of a project entitled “Castelfiorentino: From Antifascism to the Resistance and the rediscovery of the Places of Memory” financed with the contribution of the Region of Tuscany (partners “ISIS F. Enriques”, ANPI and SPI CGIL).
The “Paths of Memory” are configured as itineraries leading to the places where, in the summer of 1944, some tragic episodes occurred that left a deep wound in the Community of Castelfiorentino: the gunfight between partisans and Germans in the locality of Collepatti (24 June) where partisan Mario Bustichini died, the hanging in retaliation in Granaiolo of young Aladino Bartaloni (27 June), the murder by the Germans of Remo and Santino Gori (20 July), and finally the massacre of civilians that took place in Quercecchio (a hillside locality near the hamlet of Cambiano) during a cannonade, where six people died.
At the exact spot where these four episodes took place, signs have been placed that narrate the individual events in Italian and English, with photos and a Qr code that links to further information. The signs were created by Toscana Hiking Experience in close collaboration with the municipality of Castelfiorentino, which provided all the details of the episodes described. Toscana Hiking Experience has also organised the excursions with the students, who will be accompanied by a qualified environmental guide.
This is the calendar of the excursions: 5A and 5B Economic Technicians – “Aladino Bartaloni” and “Remo and Santino Gori” route – Monday 6 November; 5A Agrarian – “Aladino Bartaloni” and “Remo and Santino Gori” route – Wednesday 8 November; 5A and 5B Graphic Designers – “Quercecchio massacre” route – Thursday 9 November; 5A and 5G Hotelier – “Mario Bustichini” route – Monday 13 November.
“After the exhibition on the anti-fascists of Castelfiorentino, inaugurated last Saturday,” noted the Councillor for Schools and Educational Activities, Francesca Giannì, ”starting next week, we will begin the excursions to acquaint high school students with some episodes that occurred in Castelfiorentino during the Resistance period, some of which are little known such as the Gori assassination and the Quercecchio massacre, which we wanted to recover so that they would become part of the collective memory of our community. My thanks go to the school headmaster, Prof. Barbara Degl’Innocenti, who enthusiastically welcomed this project, as well as our partners ANPI and SPI CGIL and in particular their respective presidents, Marco Cappellini and Nadia Meacci, who have always been very active on the theme of memory. We believe it is important that these themes are also the subject of reflection at school, to help the new generations understand a particularly troubled period in our history”.
Meanwhile, the exhibition “Gli Anti – Marcia. I Castellani che dissero NO! al Fascismo” continues at the event space in Corso Matteotti 19, which will be open until 12 November with the following opening hours: Tuesday and Thursday 4:00-7:00 p.m., Saturday 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Sunday 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.