MONTICELLI – The council resolution which had sanctioned the renunciation of the inheritance of the maestro Cesare Giarola has been revoked: the four thousand books donated to the Municipality will be temporarily kept, free of charge, by a company close to the library.
As is known, it all began last October, when the master’s heirs communicated his will to leave his large collection of book material to the library. The administration, while recognizing Giarola’s caliber, had decided not to accept it due to the impossibility of finding suitable spaces for the placement and valorisation of the donation. but, in agreement with the heirs themselves, to donate it to a library in the regional territory, favoring one of the municipalities affected by the serious flood of May 2023. This was followed by indignation and the motion of the minority group ‘Active Monticelli’, which had asked for the commitment of the Municipality to involve local associations in order to «identify suitable spaces to host the book heritage in question, waiting for it to be intended for future cataloging and definitive placement”.
In the city council, after the councilor’s explanations Cassandra Dagani, the administration had decided to accept the opposition’s request and suspend the waiver. Now the official act published on the praetorian noticeboard, with further explanations: «The book heritage does not contain texts prior to 1831 and cannot, therefore, be counted as a valuable collection with conservation obligation. It is not in good conditions of conservation, therefore meticulous cataloging work is necessary in preparation for the treatment of the volumes or for the verification of their deterioration, contamination by mold and humidity. It is not possible to proceed directly with any insertion on the shelves and the library does not have any appurtenances or spaces that can accommodate the storage of the volumes. Furthermore, the current library management contract does not include structural verification activities”.
However, a search has been activated to identify possible storage spaces for the volumes in other properties, including those belonging to local associations, pending the start of any cataloging procedure. The objective of the council led by the mayor Gimmi Distant it is therefore «to honor the figure of Maestro Giarola by expanding the search for solutions through the request for help also from private individuals». To date, the complex search for spaces has returned only one offer of availability from a local company, temporarily and free of charge: “A welcome opportunity”, we finally read in the council resolution, which cancels the previous decision. And so we will proceed with the stowage and transport operations in the identified location.
