Francesco Luparesi turns 100 and talks about it on his cell phone, as if he were 20 years old. It has a certain effect to hear the stories of a life directly from him. He celebrated his 100th birthday last June 6, together with his wife Pierina Zanotti, his son Danilo, many relatives and friends, including Vittorio Gardi and the president of Anpi Imola, Gabrio Salieri, while Mayor Marco Panieri congratulated him on behalf of the city and presented him with the centenary medal. Recognized as a partisan in the “Sap Montano”, Francesco Luparesi was a friend of Luigi Tinti, the legendary commander Bob, of Vittorio Gardi and of many other boys who, during the war years, chose the Resistance.
Born in Imola on 6 June 1924, Francesco Luparesi belongs to a lineage of greengrocers, starting from his grandfather and father. First in via Tiro a Segno, then moving to Pontesanto and then again in via Colombarina, he always followed his father in his work as a greengrocer, continuing to do so throughout his life. He chose to specialize in the cultivation of vegetables and was also a pioneer in certain cultivation techniques, “so much so that they then copied them from me – he says today -. I took the products to the fruit and vegetable market in Bologna, or I gave the export products to the Cooperativa Ortolani”.
After the age of seventy he abandoned the garden to dedicate himself to the cultivation of mushrooms, once again acting as a precursor of the activity in the area, which he continued for a few years, before handing it all over to his partner. Today he continues to stay updated, between television and newspapers. “It makes me nervous to see how the world is going, how people try to ruin the world, which is so beautiful” he says with the wisdom of his 100 years, of someone who has experienced the difficulties of daily life and those of war, always knowing how to overcome them, thanks to his tenacity and humanity.
