“Mauro da Caprile has left us”. The sad news is given by his son Michele. Da Caprile was a painter, designer, illustrator of the history and traditions of Pisa. His works have been featured several times on the pages of La Nazione. Here is the memory of his son Michele: “During the approximately ninety years of his life he lived through some of the most tragic and important moments in the recent history of our country. He witnessed the bombing of August 31, 1943 and those tragic events were the driving force behind his commitment as a school teacher and as an artist. Passionate about the history of our city, in many years of artistic activity, he crossed and explored all the main cultural and literary areas: the medieval period, historical events, sports, politics and vernacular. Through his works, expressed in different expressive techniques – painting, plastic, graphics and computer graphics – he tried to investigate its deep soul, its feeling; he wanted his creations to become the heritage of our Pisan community, to which he felt he belonged strongly and indissolubly. It is impossible to recall, even briefly, over sixty years of activity, I will limit myself to some of the works and collaborations to which he was most attached: the collections of drawings dedicated to the Gioco del Ponte, the volume on the costumes of the Game, created together with Alberto Zampieri and Roberto Balestri – “The colours of the Pisa festival”, the medals dedicated to Mazzini, the book “The long breath” created together with Paolo Gianfaldoni, the 2016 Alfeo Calendar and the commemorative image for the 50 years of the Maritime Republics, the volumes “Pisani Vippe”; the collaborations with the magazines “Er gobbo” and “Er Tramme”, with the Compagnia di Calci and with the Palio di Santo Stefano.
Finally, his latest book, “Pan all’ombra dei flauti” for Ets: a graphic novel in which he investigated the relationship between man and nature, released in 2020. For the Gioco del Ponte in 2017, maestro Mauro da Caprile created the Palio della Vittoria, to be awarded to the winning side. On the occasion of the celebrations for the Pisan New Year in 2014, his personal exhibition “I colori del tempo-Le Nuvole che parla” was held. The funeral was held on Monday at the Pubblica assistenza.
Charles Venturini
