As part of the initiatives for 154th anniversary of the Giovanni Bovio Municipal Library of Trani On Tuesday 23 April 2024, World Book and Copyright Day, the new edition of the book was presented in the conference room of the library «Invitation to Trani” Of Benedetto Ronchi.
Every year the library chooses a theme for its birthday and this year it was chosen to remember the figure of the first director Benedetto Ronchi: a scholar in love with his city, who brought prestige to the library.
Benedetto Ronchi was born in Trani on 3 February 1921. In the summer of 1952 he was appointed director of the «Giovanni Bovio» municipal library located at Palazzo Vischi, until 1979, the year which marked its retirement. In 1955 he was appointed Honorary Inspector of Monuments by the Minister of Education, while in 1963 he became an ordinary member of the Society of Homeland History for Puglia, whose Trani section had him as president from 1973 to 1986. Together with Mons. Carata, Archbishop of Trani, he became the promoter and first director of the institution of the Diocesan Museum of the Archdiocese of Tranesewhich took place on 30 June 1974. On 19 May 1990, a cruel and inexorable evil took away from his family and the world of culture in Trani a man still at the height of his intellectual vigor.
Since 1952, Dr. Ronchi begins a series of publications on the history of the city of Trani such as «Brief guide to the Diocesan Museum of Trani», «Invitation to Trani», «Investigation into the urban development of Trani from the 11th to the 18th century” And “The Cathedral of Trani».
To Dr. Benedetto Ronchi, the city of Trani dedicated the lapidary room of the Diocesan museum in 1996, and in October 2010 the conference room located on the second floor of the current headquarters of the G. Bovio municipal library, to thank him for the love and passion shown for his Trani and recently the Administration affixed a toponymic plaque to one of the new roads in the Lapietra area.
To open the evening with institutional greetings Lucia de Mari councilor for cultures: «Invitation to Trani is pages of history, images of history of this extraordinary city in which we are lucky enough to live».
The meeting was coordinated by Peppino Piacente publisher of Secop Editions of Corato who oversaw the reprint of Benedetto Ronchi’s precious work.
Prof. spoke. Andrea Lovato Director of the Department of Law of the University of Bari: «Applause for this editorial initiative which honors the memory of a great character from Trani, who made the history of Trani in a specific historical period, who loved local history and expressed all its virtues to the fullest.».
He also intervened Piero Meli writer and photographer: «It is a book for the traveler who arrives in Trani, visits the city and falls in love with it. An invitation to come to Trani and experience it. But it is also a book for the citizen of Trani; a way to go and look for a probably unknown glimpse of the city».
«Benedetto Ronchi’s teaching to love one’s city is very strong – He says Daniela Pellegrinocurrent director of the library; the teaching of a man of culture, of a family man, of a man of integrity; we have made this teaching our own by living the Bovio library every day and consequently we pass it on to the new generations. Countless activities are organized in the library every day and in doing so we transfer to the new generations the true meaning of the cultural institution and the teaching of the person who has most influenced the history of the library».
The conclusions were entrusted to Francesco Ronchilawyer and son of Benedetto Ronchi: «What was done today is a tribute to the city; my father had a great love for his city; these works are love for the city; the possibility that future generations will also know beauty. I thank the Administration for contributing and supporting the editorial initiative. The work, from 1988, was embellished with new photos by Piero Meli, whom I thank; in 36 years certain nuances of the city change. A special thank you to Daniela Pellegrino who was the silent, humble creator of this event».
The journalist and historian’s speech concludes the memories of Benedetto Ronchi Mario Schiralliformer director of the Giovanni Bovio municipal library: «My working relationship with the maestro dates back to the beginning of 1965; gratitude but also devotion for what he did and for what he taught».
Present in the room was a former schoolmate of Francesco Ronchi who showed the municipal library card no. 1056 dated 09/21/1959, a document which he has kept with extreme care for 65 years.
The new edition of «Invitation to Trani» it is the result of painstaking work by the curators who chose to leave the text of the first edition unchanged, thus preserving the author’s love for his city and who worked on the photographic section, redoing it almost completely, trying to combine the period photos with of the book, around 240 new shots of a modern Trani projected into the future. Therefore a work faithful to history but also to current events.
The publisher Peppino Piacente has announced that the book will be present from 9 to 13 May 2024 at Turin book fair and subsequently in October 2024 at Frankfurt Book Fairthe main event for the publishing sector, where Italy returns to participate as a guest country of honour.
Interviews:
to the mayor Amedeo Bottaro, to the director of the Bovio library, Daniela Pellegrino, to the councilor for Culture Lucia De Mari, to Francesco Ronchi son of Benedetto Ronchi, to Piero Meli writer and photographer and to Andrea Lovato Director of the Law department of the University from Bari.
