The Irreverent – The modesty, the talents and the role he played in the establishment of the university
by Renzo Trappolini
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| Franco Bruni |
Viterbo – The natural qualities of modesty with which the Honorable Franco Bruni guided for years, and with results, the agricultural policies in Viterbo, in the region, in parliament – studying, proposing and explaining in the daily meetings at their home, in the sections, to his direct farmers, the need and ways of becoming entrepreneurs – are partly the cause of the not ready memory of many of the role he had in the establishment of the University.
Franco Bruni’s letter for the University of Viterbo
In fact, he had not immediately grasped the question that, at the end of the 1960s, was being asked by many parties (in April 1968 there was an important conference at the Auditorium) – with the press, politicians and men of culture, but even entrepreneurs who considered the University to be the driving force of the social and economic development of a Tuscia naturally devoted to the tertiary sector – today perhaps Unitus would be yet to come.
On 1 May 1969 in Ronciglione the representatives of the local authorities spoke about it and on the 9th Franco Bruni, who was president of the province, proposed (council resolutions n.360 and 763) to follow the path of a Consortium to which the Municipality of Viterbo would join (mayor Salvatore Arena), the Chamber of Commerce (president Fernando Micara) and the then Cassa di Risparmio (lawyer Vincenzo Ludovisi).
In order not to waste time – as was the man’s style – Bruni obtained authorization to ask the Government, in the meantime, for the establishment of degree courses in the Magisterium and on 24 July he wrote to the Ministry of Public Education announcing both the formation of the Consortium that the financial commitment of local authorities and the identification of the headquarters at Trinità, where the Free University of Tuscia will then operate.
There are not many aspirations of the people of Viterbo who, for decades, have been able to find full realization and, at the moment in which one of the most important protagonists of Viterbo, the university city, leaves his Capodimonte in silence, one cannot help but remember him in full voice.
Franco Bruni understood the people of Tuscia, a large part of whom were then dedicated to agriculture, he listened to them and guided them, avoiding the living rooms to which he preferred the calloused hands which, in the evening, after a day’s work in the fields, found support and enthusiasm by shaking his.
He was an administrator, regional and national deputy and was also noticed by those who, after the death of the legendary founder of Coltivatori Diretti, Paolo Bonomi, would have wanted him in his place. The substantial lack of ambition did not help him, but it makes him an example of how one can (and must) engage in politics, also knowing how to leave peacefully at the right time, without seeking recognition and incense which, however, he cannot now refuse. Also because, for those who knew him, they are a duty.
Renzo Trappolini
June 8, 2024
