by FLAVIO MARTINO
Resourceful artist, especially painter. Giovanni Massaccesi, born in Civitavecchia one hundred years ago, in a segment of peace between two wars: 25 April 1924, died in his hometown at the age of 83, on 27 April 2007. The third of four children he arrived when his parents and siblings lived in Vicolo dell’Ape, practically close to the current Corso Marconi. The entire area no longer exists, it was razed to the ground by the bombings of 1943. Another house and finally the last historic residence in Via Paolo Antonini 17, originally Via del Pozzolano.
His father Giulio worked in the seaport and was among the founders of the Port Company. The Tuscan stay-at-home mother from Cecina. Outspoken character, attentive to everyday life and social problems. Sensitive to the conditions of the weakest. Modest, you never boasted of your abilities. He reflected on his own limitations. He wanted to know. He traveled among different peoples to learn other cultures. He was intrigued by progress and thanks to progress he is still with us on the Facebook page opened by his relatives. A series of works that remember him. Master, illustrious fellow citizen, famous in the Arts. A free spirit, he preferred to live alone.
Formidable in portraits, he has made a strong contribution to international film production with posters of successful films starring the best Hollywood and Cinecittà actors. One for all is the American blockbuster Gone with the Wind. Screened in Civitavecchia in 1954, the Teatro Traiano was packed. Many young people learned from him, he taught painting in the classes of the Boys’ Republic. The Monument of Memory of him in Parco della Resistenza, included in the reports of scholars of the European Community, remembers the internees in the concentration camps and the victims of the Nazi-Fascists. A nice detail: he created the Civitavecchiese Tombola, illustrating each of the 90 numbers. And with caricatures he knew how to make everyone smile. His paintings have crossed borders, obtaining prizes and recognitions including the Chamber of Deputies Gold Medal and registration in the UN Register of Painters. In Rome, the Cento Pittori di Via Margutta, a reference association for talents in the world, opened their doors to him. He painted with the colors suggested by his Civitavecchia. He exalted and embellished shades, lights and shadows, like the sun’s rays that paint Fort Michelangelo and the Rocca.
Giovannino, as his friends affectionately called him, loved the good weather and the sea at home. He preferred that stretch that borders the eastern coast, where there was a welcoming and limited bathing establishment: the Piccolo Paradiso, currently only a solarium. He was good at swimming: freestyle. Lots of breath and right strokes, like a professional in long races. He went offshore, beyond the Punta del Pecoraro, where the water is deep and fresh and the seagulls fly overhead. He came back and lay down in the sun for a tan near the rocks and a bather didn’t go unnoticed, he knew how to catch octopuses… The Octopus Fisherman is the title of that impromptu and valuable work. It is part of a private collection and recalls the glimpse of a summer in the chromatic setting of Civitavecchia.
