Lonato Opens Rare Historical Rooms and Artifacts This Weekend
A cultural event is already scheduled in Padenghe on the same days. But Lonato, tomorrow and Sunday, will also celebrate the Giornata di Primavera (Spring Day) organized by the Fondo per l’ambiente italiano (Italian Environment Foundation). The Ugo da Como Foundation will take care of it, which will exceptionally open two rooms of the monumental library at the Casa del Podestà. The rooms we are talking about have never been open to the public before, and according to experts, they are definitely worth a visit.
“The two rooms,” explains the curator Stefano Lusardi, “were designed as ideal containers for the rare volumes acquired by Senator Ugo da Como, a keen collector of ancient books as well as works of art. In these spaces, furniture, majolicas, paintings, and sculptures coexist with refined editions bound and placed on wooden shelves that cover all the walls of the library.”
The rooms open and the treasures kept
Need more details? The two rooms that will be open over the weekend contain about ten thousand volumes, dating from the 16th century to the early decades of the 20th. The Victoria Room hosts works of a humanistic and literary nature, arranged on open shelves that rise from the floor to the ceiling, interrupted by a suggestive wooden balcony that allows access to the higher shelves.
The Bresciana Room, as the name suggests, preserves works of provincial and Brescian character in particular, especially treasured by Senator Da Como, who wished to create a specific and complete collection for all scholars interested in the topic.
Among the many treasures kept within the rich cultural treasure trove of Lonato, Stefano Lusardi highlights one that is practically unknown to most Breisian residents. “The Foundation, Lusardi recounts, is the guardian of an important bronze sculpture by Odoardo Tabacchi: it is the model prepared for the realization of the large statue-monument of Arnaldo da Brescia, created in 1882 in collaboration with architect Tagliaferri and visible in the square of the same name in the town center.
The sculpture, whose origin is unknown, was placed by Ugo da Como in the Bresciana Room of the library, where it rests on a 15th-century marble column.”
“This is the first version,” continues the curator of the Foundation, “then modified, of the monument, in which the sculptor envisioned, with a pictorial and realistic style, and with a model worthy of one of the main representatives of the verist movement, the rebellious friar as a tribune addressing the crowd.”
Perhaps precisely because of its strength and vehemence, the judging committee wanted Tabacchi to create a different figure of Arnaldo: the one, well known to the Brescian inhabitants, who appears with a more composed and severe attitude.”
This exceptional sculpture, with its strong visual impact, would alone justify the visit to Lonato. But just to mention one of the beautiful glimpses offered by the senator’s house, from the Bresciana Room it will be possible to access the private rooftop garden and admire the historic part of Lonato.
The free opening of the museum (from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 14:30 to 17:00 on Saturday and Sunday) was made possible thanks to the commitment of volunteer guides affiliated with the Amici della Fondazione association.