Brescia and Garda Heritage Highlighted by 1999 Scholarship Winners
Two scholarships worth two and a half million lira each and two special mentions: the jury of the fourth “Città di Peschiera del Garda e del territorio benacense” Scholarship decided the winners, among the eight submissions, of the 1999 edition of the initiative promoted by the cultural department of the Municipality and the Public Library.
The awards and recognitions were presented by cultural councilor Walter Montresor during an evening held in the exhibition hall of the same library. The jury, presided over by Giorgio Maria Cambiò, delegated by the mayor, included Paola Marini, director of the Verona Civic Museums, Alfredo Buonopane, scholar of Veronese and Gardaian ancient history, and Eugenio Turri, geographer and expert on the Benaco territory.
Interventions and reflections on local history
After the greeting from the councilor, Lino Vittorio Bozzetto, former president of the competition, took the floor. He emphasized, with a somewhat polemical note, the role “of this award that already existed in the years of the so-called old regime, that of Democrazia Cristiana and the Socialist Party: at that time there was a scholarship of five hundred thousand lire, but nobody knew about it; it was kept jealously in the drawers of the Municipality, following a clear purpose; studying and valorizing local history was viewed with great suspicion because it could lead to positions opposing the central history, that of the Roman Empire.”
“But this cultural blindness failed to grasp the importance of promoting the recovery of our history, a fact which results, among other things, in bringing to Peschiera a true heritage of knowledge,” emphasized Bozzetto. “The documents remain available to everyone in the Public Library.”
Recognitions and awards for young historians
Montresor then presented the recognition to the authors of the two theses which received the special mention: Barbara Scala “Protection and restoration in the Riva of Luigi Antonio Baruffaldi (1850-1905)” and Elena Varalta “Structural technology of a pile-dwelling village. Hypotheses for interpretation based on archaeological sites in moist and underwater environments.”
Next, it was the turn of the two works awarded with the Scholarship: Nina Quarenghi “The other battle. Impact of the Battle of Solferino and San Martino on the territory of Alto Mantovano” and Corrado Sala for “The assets of the Santa Giulia monastery in Brescia in the Garda-Veronese area.”
