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Culture Literature

Title: Perugia Undergroud, stories of sex, women and power in Perugia, during the Twentieth Century

 

Author: Andrea Maori

 

Publisher: Francesco Tozzuolo Editore

 

Year of Printing: 2018

Features: 108 pages, photos cm 21 x 15, paperback illustrated black and white

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his latest book, Andrea Maori – archivist and researcher from Perugia – leads us to discover three stories, in which women are the main characters. Three events that go through the last century and which, thanks to an accurate documentation and specific researches, bear witness to the condition of subordination of women and of their denied individual freedom.

The first story, Bell’Epoque in Perugia: “Illicit relationships” in the women’s prison house is set in 1909, in Perugia, inside the reformatory and the women’s prison of the city, in which at that time, happened violence and abuses on prisoners. These violences came to light thanks to two brave women, Zita Centa Tartarini and Maria Rygier, who brought the issue to the attention of the public.

In the second one: At the margins of history: Cecilia Aurora and Agostina between prostitution and anti-fascism the author Andrea Maori followed their lives of marginalization through few traces found in the archives. Two women, Cecilia Aurora Tavernelli from Città di Castello and Agostina Tortaioli from Perugia, recorded as anti-fascist prostitutes forced to move from one city to another until we lose their traces. From that point on, it is possible to find their faint presence only through police files.

In the third one: Public morality from the approval of the Merlin Law to the seventies. The case of Perugia the author analyzes with punctual numbers and data, the phenomenon of prostitution before and after the the Merlin law, which would have given dignity to women and avoided exploitation situations. In addition, Maori examines the constitution of the female police whose purpose was to safeguard public morality and to monitor the press by repressing that which was considered immoral.

«The book brings to light three local stories that inevitably are linked to the national italian context of that time. In every one of them, the central topic is the subalternity among social classes and, above all, the male domination on the female sexuality», as professor Paolo Bartoli underlines in the preface.

Remarkable is the striking image on the cover, which reproduces the work that the Spanish artist Daniel Munoz created in 2012 on the outer wall of the former Perugia women’s prison. The mural (acrylic on cement) entitled Abandoned Women of the Perugia Prison was destroyed in 2017 during the restoration works of the building. «The idea of ​​the mural» explains the artist «was to create a symbolic representation of the submission of women through history. I chose this topic because the building was the prison of women».

 

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Culture Literature

TITLE: Love at the time of design

 

AUTHOR: Stelio Zaganelli

 

PUBLISHER: Bertonieditore

 

YEAR: 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you remove a diamond from a perfect building, everything seems to crumble …

On the cover stands out this perfect diamond and, while I was reading, I wondered what was the reason why a diamond is on the cover of a book, mostly set in Perugia. Then, continuing to read, everything appeared perfectly clear to me. Not only because the action moves to Ferrara and it is mentioned the legend linked to “Palazzo dei Diamanti”, but because the diamond also represents the precious uniqueness of each member of a group. Inside this group, if an element is removed, it produces a terrible explosion that inevitably leads to the fall down of the unit. From that moment on, everyone alone, has to choose his own path to become an adult.

The stories of Santo, Babila, Elettra, Mirro and Sandrino, if on one hand bring us to think of what it is the most fascinating film about adolescence – Stand by me: memories of a summer, from the famous novel of Stephen King – on the other hand, they make us enjoy the memories of a Perugia where life was marked by different rhythms. The city center was not only for tourists, but it was a lively place, the beating heart of the city. A downtown perhaps more run – down than today, but full of real life.

Love at the time of design is a charming book that tells not only a love story, the story between Santo and Babila, which, as a common thread, accompanies us from the very first page to the last one. At the same time it takes us back to a difficult period of the Italian history. These events make everything very real, without weighing down a story that is so captivating, thanks to the capacity of the author to influence the events that disturb him, through the force of his mind.

 

Stelio Zaganelli

 

Like every book, this one too is partly autobiographical, in fact Stelio Zaganelli remembers all the cities dear to him: Perugia where he has always lived, Ferrara where he was born, Florence where he obtained his degree as an architect and Milan which he often visited both for work and for pleasure. When he talks about the escalators and the restaurants of the city center of Perugia, it is inevitable of thinking of a tribute to his grandfather, of whom, Stelio brings the name. He was mayor of Perugia from 1977 to 1980.

Certainly also in the characters, so alive and authentic, there probably be the memories of people met by the author. The fact of choosening special names – which appear a little curious, in the vivid narrative of a time that seems so distant to many of us – helps to hide real identifications and to remain in the field of pure fantasy.

Of course, at the end of the reading, an entire generation of inhabitants of Perugia will carefully put this book on a shelf, but it surely remain in their heart and mind, because of the personal history, recognized in it.

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Culture Food and Wine Literature

It is not the first (and surely, not even the last) adventure in “perugino dialect” for Ida Trotta, author of five other books about the Umbrian cuisine.

The passion of the author, that allowed her to win two challenges thanks to her own recipes, so as to teach at the Mantignana’s Easter Cake School. Ida considers food as a collective good and eating good food as an expression of education and respect: all elements which find their roots in the umbrian excellence.
The Umbrian cuisine – with its rustic nobility and so hospitable, warm and relaxed (to paraphrase the author) – has demonstrated how its excellence derives from simple and genuine ingredients; it is the same simplicity that today distinguished chefs are looking for, removing elements from the elaborate dishes of the past. But Umbria, has always had this characteristics in its culinary tradition since ancient times. Ida describes this world recalling the typical aromas and flavors experienced during her childhood spent at her grandparents’ house.

 

 

The book continues with her personal recipes, but Perugia a Tavola is not a simple collection of recipes: every creation which belongs to the culinary tradition of Perugia, is accompanied by a presentation in verse, strictly in perugino dialect, with many curiosities about  umbrian customs and traditions. Ida is also the author of the illustrations of the first part of the book which is about appetizers, bread and savory pies, pasta dishes, soups, vegetable soups, second courses, side dishes, omelettes, cured meats and desserts.

But the book reserves another surprise too. At the bottom of this recipe book, there are the Minima culinaria, poems written in the local dialect of Perugia, approved by the Academy of Donca: the “donca” is, emblematically, the peculiar inflection which characterizes the area of Perugia and which identifies, the dialect itself. The section is curated by Sandro Allegrini, author of the preface.

To close the volume, a more touristic appendix: the author selected a series of places dua se magna bene (where you can eat well): a series of restaurants selected due to their way of interpreting and presenting the same recipes of the tradition mentioned in the book. The other criterion to choose these restaurants was their ability to promote and describe the territory. In a nutshell, a unique work by Ida Trotta, a true ambassador of the Umbrian cuisine and and the “perugino dialect”.

 

“Perugia a tavola – Tradizione, identità, cultura”

By Ida Trotta

Publishing House: Morlacchi Editore

Perugia 2017

369 pages

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Culture Literature

Titolo: Mario Angeloni. Profilo biografico, documenti, testimonianze

Autore: Renato Traquandi

Editore: Volumnia

Anno di pubblicazione: 2016

152 p., f.to cm. 17 x 24, brossura illustrata

ISBN: 9788889024836

Prezzo: € 12.00

 

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In occasione delle celebrazioni dei 120 dalla nascita e 80 dalla morte di Mario Angeloni, ricorrenza che si è tenuta nel 2016, si è costituito a Perugia un comitato per commemorarne l’anniversario. Il comitato, nato su iniziativa della Società di Mutuo Soccorso tra gli Artisti e gli Operai di Perugia, ha visto l’adesione di numerose istituzioni e associazioni. Oltre alla commemorazione del 24 giugno tenutasi alla Sala dei Notari e al convegno all’Università per Stranieri del 2 dicembre scorso, è stata pubblicata per i tipi della Volumnia questa importante testimonianza curata da Renato Traquandi.

Il volume, corredato da testimonianze e documenti, si divide in tre parti: La storia e l’ambiente. Perugia città natale di Mario; L’espatrio e la vita politica in Europa; La guerra civile spagnola. Atto di nascita della resistenza europea. Inoltre include i discorsi tenuti da Mauro Volpi (professore di Diritto pubblico comparato all’Università di Perugia) e da Urbano Barelli (avvocato e vicesindaco di Perugia) in occasione della cerimonia del 24 giugno, una prefazione della di Maria Cristina Laurenti (docente di Storia del pensiero politico contemporaneo all’Università La Sapienza di Roma) e si conclude con la postfazione del politico Valdo Spini.

Il libro ha il pregio di riscoprire e valorizzare la persona di Mario Angeloni, figura di spicco, sicuramente molto nota ma poco conosciuta, soprattutto dalle nuove generazioni.

«Un uomo – ha ricordato Volpi – che ha onorato la sua città non solo con la forza delle sue idee, democratiche, repubblicane, antifasciste e internazionaliste, ma anche con l’esempio concreto giunto fino al sacrificio della propria vita».

Nato e vissuto a Perugia, avvocato e fervente repubblicano, ha partecipato come volontario alla Prima Guerra Mondiale. Si è opposto strenuamente al regime fascista, subendo persecuzioni, aggressioni, l’incarcerazione e infine l’esilio, prima in Francia e poi in Spagna, dove nel 1936 si arruola come volontario a sostegno della Repubblica Spagnola. Ed è in un ospedale di Sarinera in Aragona che il 28 agosto del 1936 muore dopo essere stato colpito durante la battaglia del Monte Pelato.

 

 

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