Saturday, April 15 (10:30 a.m.) opening of the exhibition that for the first time
traces the biographies and “faces” of the antifascists of the “Ventennio”
For the first time, almost a century later, the “faces” of Castelfiorentino’s antifascists are exhibited. And their vicissitudes, struggles, personal sacrifices (many of them will be forced to emigrate abroad) are traced through the papers meticulously preserved by the Central State Archives, in Rome, in the Central Political Records. Unpublished mugshots and documents, much of it the result of delusions by the trustees of the OVRA, the gigantic apparatus of surveillance and control set up by the Fascist Regime in the second half of the 1920s.
This is the main novelty of the exhibition “Freedom Denied. Freedom regained. Freedom through the Eyes of the Young,” which will be opened at the Ridotto of Teatro del Popolo on Saturday, April 15, at 10:30 a.m. An exhibition itinerary that will be developed in three separate moments, the first of which represents a selection of photos and documents related to some 20 personalities listed as “subversive” by the fascist regime: from the Salvadori brothers (Amos and Euro) to the Moriani brothers (Riccardo and Ovidio), originally from Castelnuovo d’Elsa; from the “red rescue” Del Taglia-Rigacci couple (who emigrated to France) to those who decided to enlist in the Republican militia during the Spanish Civil War, such as Gastone Baglioni and Arturo Lelli; from Cesare Manetti (with mug shots, unpublished, taken at the time of his arrest) to Eletto Fontanelli, future mayor of Castelfiorentino after the Liberation; from Brunetto Fattorini, who would end up in confinement in Ventotene, to Ulderigo Castellacci, reported as a possible “bomber” and whose name would even end up on the desk of Arturo Bocchini, founder of the OVRA and “key man” of the regime’s police apparatus.
In the second section (“Freedom regained”) the exhibition displays photos related to the main demonstrations in the post-World War II period: from the sharecropper struggles to those against the Vietnam War or the Gulf War in 1991, and so on, while the third (“Freedom seen through the eyes of young people”) displays the sixty works of the students who participated in the “How I see April 25” Contest, the winners of which will be announced on Wednesday, April 19 at the Teatro del Popolo. On that occasion, a number of theatrical and musical performances are scheduled before the awards ceremony. The exhibition is part of a larger project carried out by the municipality for Tuscany Day and enjoys the co-participation of the Consiglio Regionale of Tuscany.
It will remain open until April 30 with the following hours: : Saturday, April 15-22-29 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; 9 p.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, April 16-23-30 5 p.m.-7 p.m.; Tuesday, April 18 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Monday, April 24 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, April 25 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; 4 p.m.-7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.-2 p.m.
Pictured: Cesare Manetti in an unpublished photo taken at the time of his arrest in 1937.