Desenzano Water and Social Life in 1930s Photos by Marcelo Toggazari

Finding a new topic for the “Lunario” 2002 was no easy task. After discussing the “picturesque views of Desenzano in 19th-century travel publications,” related to the current year, and the landscape themes developed in previous years, the idea was to continue searching for more unpublished images (which are increasingly rare) of Desenzano.

Who better than a professional photographer like MARCELO TOGAZZARI to have captured our city in the 1930s and 1940s? He had just moved to Desenzano from Suzzara during those years. From his personal archives, made accessible thanks to the collaboration of his son Marcello and grandson Giuliano, emerged images of a Desenzano now lost (and only 60 years have passed), shrouded, in the selected photos for the “Lunario,” by a sense of great melancholy and characterized by an intense relationship between the city and the water of its lake.

The theme of water and social life

This theme, in fact, is well documented in the “Lunario”: commerce, religious rites, games, festivals—they all inevitably involved the lake’s water and its important role in the social life of Desenzano at the time. Togazzari captured all these occasions on photographic plates: a snowfall, a severe frost, the procession on the lake, what remained of the church of S. Maria della Villa in Rivoltella in 1933, the “cuccagna” (greasy pole game), and dives into the old port.

Many will recognize among the images the daring diver, children on boats sunbathing or dressed up for festivities, and those following the parade of the patron saints. The captions, curated by the Associazione “Carlo Brusa”, describe not only the scenes depicted but also provide new and interesting historical insights. These annotations are the result of personal research by locals of Desenzano, who have been consulted and whom we sincerely thank here.

Thanks to their memory skills, it was possible to reconstruct facts, circumstances, and situations related to the various topics illustrated.