Torricelli Park in Piazza San Francesco reopened to the public yesterday. The green area surrounding the monument dedicated to the Faenza inventor of the barometer had been closed to the public for some time, to allow for restoration work on the lawn and the fountain, now enriched by a wooden work by the sculptor Giorgio Palli. The opening ceremony was enriched by a performance by the Teatro due Mondi, which staged the play ‘Crianças – Children of the street’, prologue of the project ‘See you at the park 2024’ scheduled again this year to bring culture in the green areas and public parks of the city. Torricelli park was literally devastated by the flood of last May 16th: the square coincides with one of the points in the historic center where the waters of the Lamone created the greatest devastation. The river in fact went up Via Sant’Ippolito and entered Via della Croce, transformed into an unstoppable torrent, and then released the waters in Piazza San Francesco. Before reaching the park, the flood had already semi-destroyed, in sequence, three treasures of the historical and monumental heritage such as the monastery of the Poor Clares, the Carlo Zauli Museum and the Franciscan convent, without forgetting the area surrounding the former church of Sant ‘Ippolito and the nearby ceramic atelier la Vecchia Faenza. A neighborhood that still bears the marks of the drama today, where reconstruction in many cases has left room for abandonment: if the Carlo Zauli Museum has resumed its activities, the convent of San Francesco is instead about to be bid farewell by the friars, headed towards the Veneto, while the future for the Sant’Ippolito complex still languishes. Some more hope for the former Poor Clares monastery, involved in social housing projects.
At the end of the show by the Teatro Due Mondi, the celebrations moved to the square, with what was called the ‘Water Procession’, animated by the theater group in collaboration with Laboratorio senza confine. Which, in Piazza del Popolo, again together with the Teatro Due Mondi, gave life to the performance ‘Action above and below water’: a moment dedicated to citizenship and reflection on the flood, part of those on the agenda up until now until next May 16th, when the drama of a year ago will be commemorated with a collective ceremony that will start from Piazza Ferniani.
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