Desenzano Lunario 2002 Highlights: Photos of Maceo Togazzari’s Era
We are only in November, but the Desenzano Lunario for the year 2002, carefully prepared with the usual rigor by the associazione di studi storici «Carlo Brusa», is already ready and available at newsstands in Desenzano, Rivoltella, and San Martino della Battaglia.
Focus on Photographer Maceo Togazzari
This year’s attention has fallen on a professional photographer, Maceo Togazzari, originally from Mantua and an adopted resident of Desenzano, and his snapshots that sensitively document the 1930s and 1940s in the town of Desenzano.
“From the personal archive accessible thanks to the collaboration of his son Marcello and grandson Giuliano, images have emerged portraying a Desenzano that is now lost,” explains Renato Laffranchini, head of the Carlo Brusa association. “Veiled in great melancholy and characterized by an intense relationship between the city and its lake water.”
This theme is well documented in the lunario: commerce, religious rites, games, and festivals all inevitably share the lake water and its vital social role in Desenzano during that era.”
The Content and Images of the Lunario
A total of thirteen photographs, including the cover which reproduces what remained of the Santa Maria della Villa chapel in Rivoltella after the lightning strike in 1933.
The captions, curated by the association, describe not only the scenes depicted in the images but also provide new and quite curious historical insights.
“These insights are the result of personal research by Desenzano residents,” continues Laffranchini, “who were consulted and now, through Bresciaoggi, we thank them wholeheartedly.”
“Thanks to their memories, it was possible to reconstruct facts, circumstances, and situations related to the individual topics illustrated.”
The Life and Work of Maceo Togazzari
Maceo Togazzari arrived at Lake Garda and settled in Desenzano at Casa Vanzo, at the beginning of via Santa Maria, in 1931.
Soon after, he opened a shop selling photographic equipment with a workshop, in what is now Piazza Matteotti, just before the start of via Papa.
One year later, he moved his residence to a house in Porto Vecchio; his shop was also relocated over time, next to the Hotel Barchetta, still in Piazza Matteotti.
In 1947, along with his son Marcello, he obtained an optician diploma, allowing him to specialize his activity in this direction.
His was the first optical shop on the entire lake.
His professional expertise was sought after by famous figures such as Francesco Agello, who broke the speed record on hydroplanes; cycling champion Learco Guerra; August Picard, during a forced landing of his hot air balloon that broke his glasses; and many other well-known names.
After his death on September 10, 1974, his professional activity was continued first by his son Marcello and currently by his grandson Giuliano.
