Plaques, tombstones and monuments against the action of time: Florence restores the places of memory
It happens to everyone to pass a thousand times in the same street and in the same square, only to realize one day, after having raised their eyes to the sky, that the story stops at that point. Because it is reminiscent of an inscription on the marble. In Florence there are destined of inscriptions, monuments, tombstones, plaques that tell pieces of history, from the Risorgimento to the First and Second World War, today abandoned to decay. They are blackened, worn out: memories of glory yet modest, almost unrecognizable. Marbles, stones and bronzes attacked by smog, by the passage of time but also by neglect, by forgetfulness. And poisoned by the rains. To realize this, just take a tour starting from the Santa Maria Novella station, where on platforms 6 and 16 two slightly worn plaques recall the Florentine and Jewish deportees, to get to Ponte a Ema, where there is a small monument in pietra serena (which was once gray in color) showing the heroic action, at least so it seems to understand from the inscriptions, of some soldiers of the Folgore who came to free Florence and were killed by the Nazis. But now Palazzo Vecchio has decided to undertake a cleaning and restoration action through special treatments that remove the biological patina and preserve the good over time. The first bleached stone, with a remarkable final result, that of the seventeen partisans shot at the Cascine on 24 July 1944 by the fascists.
But the list drawn up by the Department of Public Works shows 66 interventions to be done urgently: there are 4 monuments, Piazza Mentana, Settignano, Peretola and Piazza dell’Unit, 36 tombstones scattered throughout the five neighborhoods, 26 memorial stones, the Chapel of Partisans at the Rifredi cemetery and the graves of the fallen in the Trespiano cemetery. In agreement with the bodies involved in the celebrations that take place every year around our monuments to the fallen – said the Councilor for Public Works Titta Meucci -, the municipal administration is promoting a unified plan for the conservation and enhancement of the numerous works that represent the memory of our community. There are about 70 tombstones and commemorative monuments that perform an important documentary function and become the scene of the main city celebrations every year, starting from the Liberation. The aim of the plan is an organic intervention for the care and conservation of the monuments and to attract the energies of individuals interested in this project. For the construction of the piano, for a total amount of approximately 500,000 euros. The restoration of the 66 historical works will also be carried out thanks to the Art bonus: the Municipality has already received numerous requests from private individuals who want to link their name to that testimony.
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January 19, 2022 | 21:02
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