«We open up the world to different abilities. Let’s open museums to disabilities” is the name of the beautiful initiative of the Calvisanese association “Pazzi di Rugby” sponsored by the Municipality of Desenzano with which the founder of the association Gianluigi Zucca has been collaborating for some time on projects of the same kind. It is an artistic journey, made up of four stages in the name of inclusion, which aims to make protagonists boys and girls suffering from different disabilities: the Rambotti Civic Museum of Desenzano del Garda, the Tower of San Martino della Battaglia, Roman Villa and the Monument of Sant’Angela Merici in Desenzano del Garda.
Walking with the Source and the Madmen of Rugby
On Wednesday 5 June the «Crazy People of Rugby», four boys and two teachers from the «La Sorgente» Cooperative arrived at the foot of the Tower of San Martino della Battaglia (inaugurated in 1893), a historic building in the small hamlet of Desenzano, which celebrates the Italian Risorgimento era from the first War of Independence to the capture of Rome in 1870. The Tower, built starting in 1880 on the highest hill in the area, is located in the hinterland of the Risorgimento Museum of Solferino and San Martino. On the terrace of the tower there is a lantern containing a lighthouse that flashes the colors of the Italian Tricolor which are visible even from very far away.
A trip to San Martino to the Risorgimento statue
All the participating kids were thrilled to see a tower that was not too old, rather recent, but steeped in a history that particularly touches us: the unification of Italy. As soon as they entered, at the entrance they found themselves facing the main room, called the “rotunda”, in the center of which stands the immense bronze statue of King Vittorio Emanuele II, to whom the Brescian tower is dedicated, dressed in the uniform as a senior Carabinieri officer. The walls of the room are decorated with four large scenes from the life of the King: The Vignale Conference; The entry into Milan of Vittorio Emanuele II and Napoleon III after the victory at Magenta; Vittorio Emanuele at the Palestro bridge; Vittorio Emanuele in the Campidoglio. Arranged along the walls of the rotunda, on column trunks, there are eight bronze busts of the generals who died in the Independence campaigns. From the room on the ground floor, an inclined spiral ramp leads to the top of the tower from which you can observe an enchanting panorama of the lower Lake Garda and the surrounding morainic hills, up to some glimpses of the Po Valley. The Tower also presents a series of large encaustic paintings (an ancient pictorial technique, based on the use of colors dissolved in wax and applied hot to the plaster) which represent the most important facts of the time and watercolor paintings with soldiers’ uniforms.
Zucca’s satisfaction, always in the front row
«I can only warmly thank Mrs Laura, contact person for the San Martino della Battaglia tower, who welcomed us with kindness and availability at the entrance to the tower. Soon we will share the dates of the other artistic stages.» says Gianluigi Zucca.
