That May 17th a year ago, so much water began to arrive in Lugo too, that the next day it was already too much, uncontainable and incomprehensible.
Just like the light which, mocking everyone a little, shortly after returned to shine thanks to the sun which made that scenario even more unreal, in which the light in many houses had been out some time ago.
A devastation that continues today and which, in addition to having damaged families, businesses and public property, also claimed one victim in the Lughese area, an elderly man overwhelmed by the fury of the water in the countryside of Belricetti.
After a year the city remembers those events with a series of initiatives organized by the Municipality of Lugo, whose name is intended to be a hymn and an incentive to hope: “From water to light”.
The question arises spontaneously: why is it right not to forget what happened?
«Because those days changed us forever – replies the mayor Davide Ranalli -. It’s not about celebrating but trying to find a collective way to rework a tragedy. Then there is the bond with those who came to help, obviously we cannot reach many because they were here one day, but we will meet up with those who have been among us longer a year later. I think that this year has not passed in vain and I say this to those who legitimately harbor doubts and disappointment towards the institutions. We propose events that intend to unite us in emotions, to thank those who brought us help and taught us, even more, the importance of the culture of civil protection”.
The programming begins next Friday, where the Giro d’Italia will pay homage to the places affected by the flood passing through the city center. At 6.30 pm at the Trisi Library there will be the presentation and first public screening of the short film “Teatro Rossini” created after the flood by Otis Elevator Co, a leading company in the lift and escalator sector, which expressed solidarity with the citizens with two donations, to Rossini Theater and the Civil Protection, and created this documentary, an evocative and touching testimony so as not to forget and to remember through anecdotes and curiosities the importance of the Rossini Theater for the city, submerged by the waters only two days after the first anniversary of its reopening after long restoration works.
Now it is not yet possible to know the date for the next reopening because only the first part of the restoration work has been carried out.
The narrative voice of the documentary is that of the citizens and the people who work there.
After the presentation, the video will be projected symbolically in a loop in the foyer of the theatre, currently the only accessible space. At 11.45pm, the external façade of the Rossini will be the backdrop to “Dedicate to my land of water”, a monologue by the actress Elena Bucci, accompanied by the music of Christian Ravaglioli, while the building will be illuminated by many candles in an installation created in collaboration with the light artist Mario Nanni.
On Saturday 18 May at 10.30 am, together with the many volunteers from various parts of Italy who helped Lugo and the people of Lugo, the headquarters of the Aari-Cb Civil Protection Association will be inaugurated in the Lorenzo Berardi park.
At 11.30, at the Pescherie della Rocca, the exhibition “Small stories of community. Memory, identity and work in the photographs of Raffaele Ricci Curbastro”: 50 photographs tell the life of a family and an entire community, that of San Lorenzo, between 1890 and 1915, precisely in the places first submerged by the breaking of the embankment of the Santerno last May.
At 7.30pm in Piazza dei Martiri there will be a ceremony with the recognition given by the City of Lugo to the groups of volunteers who intervened to help the community during the days of the flood and all subsequent ones. Furthermore, in the same ceremony, the highest honor of the Municipality of Lugo, the 2024 Baracca Prize, will also be awarded, which the council has decided to award to the prefect Castrese De Rosa.
