Gardone Riviera Conference Highlights D’Annunzio’s Urban Planning Legacy
“Gardone Riviera and the Poet of the Landscape”. This is the title of the conference scheduled for Saturday morning at the Vittoriale, which will present an unprecedented D’Annunzio, this time in the role of urban planner. “In a 1909 interview with Corriere della Sera, the soldier-poet said that two things needed to be done: throw the Germans into the lake, and build respecting the characteristics of the landscape,” highlight experts. — Gabriele took a stand against the demolition of towers in Bologna (there was a plan to create a parade from the Imperial Forums), saved the city walls of Lucca from destruction, and filed numerous complaints against abandonment situations. Not to mention that, in 1893, Minister Ferdinando Martini sent him to Sardinia to catalog monumental assets. And, in 1896, Superintendent Angelo Conti called him to Venice to oversee the restoration of St. Mark’s Basilica.
The historical and artistic testimony of D’Annunzio
In Ode to the Death of a Masterpiece, he described the degradation state of Leonardo’s Last Supper. In the 52 sonnets “The Cities of Silence”, he extolled the beauty of central-northern locations such as Mantua and Verona: a sort of pre-tourism of the Touring Club Italiano, rediscovering lesser-known towns.
Between 1882 and 1888, he published about fifty articles opposing the construction of the Altar of the Homeland. On Saturday, at 10 a.m., after greetings from the mayor Alessandro Bazzani, will speak Anna Maria Andreoli, president of the Fondazione del Vittoriale, who will focus on the territory as a historical, cultural, and environmental heritage; Antonio Paolucci, former minister and Superintendent of Artistic Assets of Tuscany; Ippolito Pizzetti, one of the leading experts on landscape (who will explain the characteristics of a garden-city); Carlo Cresti, professor at the Università di Firenze; Pierluigi Polimeni, tasked with drafting the new Gardone Riviera Master Plan; Augusto Cagnardi, the architect who studied the old Zoning Plan during the time of Aventino Frau; Guido Vergani, journalist of Corriere della Sera. Moderator Antonio Calabrò, of the “Sole 24 Ore“.
In the evening, at 9 p.m., in the auditorium, a concert by soloists from La Scala Theatre in Milan: a group of ten musicians (five wind instrumentalists and five string players), who, for this occasion, will be joined by a saxophone and a piano. The first part will feature symphonies by Mozart (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Rossini (The Barber of Seville, The Thieving Magpie, The Italian in Algiers).
“The idea of the conference – explains Bazzani – was born from a Rai 3 broadcast discussing D’Annunzio and the environment. We asked ourselves: from the controversies of recent years about Gardone Riviera, isn’t it possible to make a… flower bloom? Like at Cernobbio, on Lake Como, where the Ambrosetti study organizes an annual conference on road circulation, why not leverage our exceptional testimonial (D’Annunzio, of course) and address topics related to the territory, the protection of scenic beauty, existing regulations, etc.”
“I still have in my mind that video shown in Rome, attended by the Head of State (Ciampi) and the Minister of Cultural Heritage (La Melandri). Images of the Fuenti monster, the massive constructions of the Matarrese family along Bari’s seafront, and the Valley of the Temples in Sicily. Then the Vittoriale appeared, and the voiceover assured that a concrete flow would suffocate it. Nonsense. I was elected in June ’99. My administration’s program states: end second homes and land subdivision, promote recovery of the existing; and Saturday’s debate is an opportunity to seize.”
