Giulio Grimozzi, founder and soul of the Cotto Laboratory, has decided to make public the discomfort of the historic Laboratory (currently in the spaces of the Anna Frank Middle School) which the municipal administration would like to transfer to spaces deemed insufficient and inadequate in the renovation project of the area of the former Ceramica Frazzi. “The Laboratory, after forty years of activity, risks closing” says Professor Giulio Grimozzi with great bitterness, recalling the many activities that the Laboratory carries out and the low regard in which it is held by the Municipality.
As the election round for the administration of our Municipality approaches, the team in office has highlighted, as always happens, with great commitment to showing surprising attention to the problems of the Community, which have also been neglected for a long time. With a sudden fervor of activity, many works have been implemented, some of which will inevitably be left in charge of the new Administration.
Among the many works there is also the redevelopment of the relics of the historic great Fornace Frazzi, forgotten for years. The initiative would be excellent if there wasn’t a problem.
The renovation of the stump of the furnace, to make it the headquarters of the Cotto Laboratory Study Centre, a ruin already sacrificed for the construction of the Coop shopping centre, is proposed to be artfully implemented as a great favour, motivated by its placement in a more visible position.
In reality it would be an impairment. Because in the current headquarters of around 500m2 the space is already saturated, let alone relegating the activities to just over 200m2.
The anxiety that afflicts us is due to a reckless project implemented by the current Administration for the construction of the new headquarters, which, according to the operating technical arm, should be more favorable for our business.
On the other hand, a little attention currently shown for the LABORATORY DEL COTTO Study Center would find the association in a period of maximum commitment to the teaching activity aimed mainly at young people of various levels of study, nursery, primary and high school, as well as a experimentation of an intervention for psychotherapeutic purposes in prison, in addition to normal corporate activity.
The commitment to carrying out the many activities envisaged by its statute is made with awareness of the position of the municipal body in which it is included and for which it enjoys some benefits.
Unfortunately, the absolute inattention paid to us in the preparatory phase of the project meant that no member of the Administration’s governing bodies ever took the time to ascertain the vital needs of the Centre’s activity, no one. The Councilor for Culture or Education, Public Works, school activities, much less the Mayor, have ever taken care in the preliminary phase of drafting the project to become aware of our needs.
Yet there have been many times in which the Cotto Laboratory, on occasion requested by the Administration, has demonstrated its ready willingness to serve the cultural and artistic heritage of the city, such as, for example, the intervention for the restoration of the frieze of the Town Hall, of the fireplace of the Loggia dei Militi, the request of the Councilor for Tourism, worried about the many eyes of empty shop windows, urgently asked for a distributed exhibition of works, the setting up of informative exhibitions of the culture of Cotto (heritage of the our culture), and the thematic conferences brought to a conclusion.
No attention was paid to the proposals made: the bust for the celebration of the architect Luigi Voghera to whom Cremona, and not only, owes well-deserved glory for the construction of the monumental cemetery, the magnificent gates of the City (unfortunately demolished), the monumental façade of the Church of S. Agata, and then, and then.
A valuable bust of Voghera was offered, specially and excellently modeled by two recent graduates of the local art high school to be placed in the pedestrianized Piazza di S. Agata in front of his work. In fact the initiative would have cost just over €3,000, but there was no sign of interest.
The proposal for terracotta plaques with the theme reminiscent of the name of each of the doors designed by the students of the artistic high school was made in 2022, which could have been placed in view for tourists as well as for everyone. Instead, another expensive and tacky solution was chosen instead of the almost free one.
Now the Administration, with the declared intention of providing a more prominent and central location, with greater visibility, is proposing the stump of the Hoffman kiln, a relic of the imported Frazzi kiln. Our opinion is that, in fact, it could be a good solution as a representative headquarters for the Centre, dedicating it as a management headquarters for exhibitions, conferences and anything else useful also for the attention to the City. But certainly not suitable for the continuation of teaching activities with the presence of two or three classes of students, as already happens now.
Li will not allow the normal operations of receiving the materials necessary for ordinary operations, such as: receiving the trucks for the delivery of the clay loads, setting up the firing oven and its management, the machine for shredding the recovered clay ( economically very advantageous), and how much else could be listed.
The Administration’s proposal could be taken into consideration if the current location for ordinary activity was confirmed, or another location with large spaces suitable for receiving guests without architectural barriers or impediments to usability, including for disabled and elderly people.
Yet the Cotto Laboratorio Study Center in its statutory activity, in addition to conducting with assiduous commitment the teaching activity dedicated to subjects of all ages, from nursery school to high school students and sometimes even university students, also carries out study activities and historical research on the heritage of terracotta, of a peculiar character of Civitas Cremonensis, which deserves attention and care.
Now, after forty years of self-managed activity at its own expense, with the dubious motivation of providing a more visible location, there is a plan to remove the current location desired by the administration of Mayor Corada, and relegate the terracotta laboratory to a space of 250 m2, compared to 500 m2. currently in our use (and already saturated), in an insufficient and uncomfortable space with restrictions from the Superintendency not convenient for the activity, difficult access, roof covering obligatorily in exposed tiles.
What are the reasons for this maneuver of dubious usefulness, perhaps external pressures, as the vox populi reports, or because the disinterest shown generates a poor evaluation of the work carried out so far?
If this is the case, the Cotto Laboratory Study Center is destined to languish, reduced to a place where a few veterans of culture will be able to meet and lose themselves in chatter about memories and vain proposals for ineffective and inconclusive initiatives, for this millstone of indolence, where it is a privilege few lead initiatives to which the glorious Cremona of the past was led. Where it is the privilege of a few to lead initiatives, not all of which are of real use, without seeking the favor of the community…
Giulio Grimozzi
Some finds from the Cotto Laboratory and Professor Giulio Grimozzi (photo Riflessi Magazine)
