BADIA POLESINE (Rovigo) – In the city lives a ninety-two-year-old gentleman who some time celebrated the “Diamond Wedding” wedding with the activity as a photographer and, although from “collaborator” of his daughter Angiolina, has surpassed the “Platinum” ones (65 years), now aiming for the “Titanium” ones.
AND Pietro Bertoncin, a discreet person but respected by all. Piero (as his friends affectionately call him), despite his age and some inevitable ailments, is still very lucid and only for “superstition” (because he noticed that almost everyone dies in the year) did not want to participate in the award ceremony for the “historic activities” on May 1st in the town hall.
Native of Piacenza d’Adige but moved to Badia at a very young age, he began developing photographs as early as 1946, driven by passion and the need to contribute to the sustenance of the family. He opened his first shop in via Roma in 1956, before moving to via degli Estensi in 1958. He remembers the pioneering years of analogue development in black and white and colour, of the bulky flashes with electric discharge magnesium lamps and the precious suggestions of the unforgettable maestro Cantella, an advanced amateur with whom he regularly compared himself. “I started, – says Pietro -, with a Rangefinder finettepurchased on debt by Zagoto get to the ‘firstRolleiflex twin-lensthen to Contax with Zeiss lenses and finally to the first of the five Hasselblad owned”. In the early 70’s, the golden age of photography, Pietro installed a new color development and printing laboratory, where the many rolls of film flowed to be developed; an important investment that allowed him to respond quickly to growing requests. “Era a professional developer worth 140 million lire…- tells – I got into debt but things went well”.
“At that time the photographer was necessarily also a craftsman and had to know how to develop films and prints, juggle with photographic development solutions by experimenting. The darkroom was my home” he adds to that reporter for whom, way back in 1975, he did the pre-military “hat” photo shoot.
In love with his work Pietro, today as then, claims that “You have to see the photograph before taking it”.
In the interview, he revealed a little background to us: Almost the entire archive of the ‘collection’ edited by the prof. Tardivello for the Baruffaldi museum, is based on photographs of him and the maestro Cantella. “I still jealously preserve the negatives of the characters who came to Badia such as Tina Anselmi, Giovanni Spadolini, “Toni” Bisaglia and the famous “All’alpino” dinners, of epic and worldly moments in the village’s history (such as the marriage of Dominique De Rostolan with his niece of Toulouse–Lautrec) and of the crowded municipal councils of the seventies, when the ‘legendary Polignano’ performed memorable skits complete with hunger strikes”.
Then the technological revolution introduced by digital has trivialized the photo as demonstrated by the prevalence of selfies: “Once taking and printing a photograph took time and money, the film camera was used on special occasions, a wedding, a party, a trip. Today this is no longer the case, because anyone can take an image at any time and everyone feels like a photographer but photography is something else.”
Pietro (Piero), who the day after the award ceremony on May 1st last, went to the shop in via Estensi to check if the “Historical Activity” plaque had been displayed in the window, is a living treasure chest of local memories, just saying “to be preserved”. Congratulations to Pietro from the entire Rovigo.News editorial team.
Ugo Mariano Brasioli
