In a church full of affection and participation, the final farewell was given to historic newsagent from Legnano Luigi Lodinibetter known in the Oltrestazione as the “Ginetto”. The man from Legnano died at the age of 90 he managed to leave memories and lessons in the hearts of many citizens who met him. For this reason, many gathered today, Monday 17 June church of Santi Martiri of Legnano for his funeral concelebrated by Don Walter Zatta and the deacon Don Marzio Consonni. In the newsstand in via Menotti there will now only be his son Guido and the memory of a trader from times gone by who was able to transform his shop into a small agora, a meeting point for many people from Legnano.
At the conclusion of the funeral ceremony Don Consonni outlined a heartfelt profile of the newsagent which we publish below.
There was a time when, when you weren’t busy with work, you went down the street, took a walk and stopped at the newsstand. There was no need to even ask, Ginetto already knew which day to lengthen. A chat about life in the neighbourhood, about life in the town, about life in general and then perhaps we went to the bar and while we sipped a coffee, we leafed through the newspaper. A habit that has the flavor of the past, a photograph from the last century that makes those who think about it experience nostalgic moments. Time has changed and if breakfast at the bar is still a habit that continues, those who are slowly disappearing are the newsstands. But here, in our neighbourhood, providentially a newsstand has still been operational for several decades in via Menotti, in which Ginetto attended, together with his children, until a few weeks ago. Much more than a simple kiosk selling newspapers but an environment where you feel at home comfortable in which culture, information, politics, chatter, deep and superficial personal relationships meet.
A look at the past thus reminds us that his newsstand represented the exact cross-section of us, a mirror, or rather a door which for many years reflected the image of the inhabitants of the Oltrettazione and at the same time allowed access to the information on current affairs. And, although digital has implemented its revolution, it will never be able to replicate the suggestive, emotional power of the paper newspapers it distributes. With the lack of authority of the printed paper, the ritual of going to the newsstands once a day was lost, however many of us, also trusting his advice, always discreet and intelligent, continued to frequent his shop which has thus retained its aggregative function. But, from now on we will no longer find him there in his place where he welcomed us with those witticisms that gave a charge of positivity to the days. From today we will only be able to look at him in photos and all that remains of him is contained in our memories.
But memories are a powerful weapon: no one is able to erase them and the strongest ones survive even the time that flees without thinking of the victims it claims. Memories are the bridge between this life and the eternity that awaits us all. These memories are our most precious possession and even if one day we will want to talk to him, and we won’t be able to do so, we will dive into a memory, we will experience it together and then a great miracle will be accomplished. Dear Ginetto, everyone here will miss you, your family first and foremost, and then your friends and customers who (as you said) made your days feel less burdensome. Above all, your sincerity will be missed, your way of seeing life and dealing with it, your seriousness which turned into sympathy when necessary. We will also shed tears and we will certainly spend days that are not happy; it’s useless to pretend nothing happened, but then we will look back, we will think of your optimism and we will remember your irony, we will remember that one day we will be together again and we will smile again; in short, we will remember that you have not gone away forever and that this greeting was just a goodbye.
Deacon Marzio Consonni
