Lonate Students Revive Historic Washhouse with Educational Performance
The protagonists of this story are the students of class 1C at the «Tarello» middle school in Lonate. With them, an old washhouse filled with history and now abandoned, which is located in Piazza delle Cappuccine. To clarify, right in front of the large building, also abandoned, which housed for many years a school run by the Suore Canossiane.
Throughout the school year, under the guidance of Professor Anna Federica Stranieri, involving also the Public Education assessor Alessandra Fontana, they carried out a research project, participating in a European initiative where schools adopt a monument. It was a complex task, divided into study groups, which will also be presented in the form of an animation of a «historical scene» on Thursday, June 7.
Representation and shared materials
The performance will be offered to parents and to all Lonate residents interested, at 9:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 1:30 PM, right in Piazza delle Cappuccine. In addition to the performance, a cd-rom, a video, and a nursery rhyme set to rap music have been created, rediscovering the folk songs of the past. In short, a slice of social life filtered through that very special and particular corner of a public washhouse.
There, people didn’t just wash clothes, but common judgments about public matters, irony, and information, gossip, and joy flowed freely. A bit of everything. A precious alchima of human contacts.
Performers and project goals
The students’ project, prepared by the «Dialoghi» group, will be performed around the washhouse, with dialogues translated into the local dialect, and people dressed in period costumes portraying washers, nuns, maids, and even the local lord of the time. The project organizers also hope to raise funds for «Casa Gabriella», a reception center where volunteers assist children from Roma or immigrant backgrounds.
School activities and local historical research
In the same vein of educational work, it is worth mentioning the interesting project carried out by 5th grade section C in the town, which in recent months studied Lonate’s history firsthand by visiting churches and monuments, and meeting the local historian Lino Lucchini, invited by the children to answer their many questions. The research has finally been «compiled», again on a cd-rom.
