Newsletter of the Centro
New Series, no. 3 – April 9, 2003
Edited by Dario Manfredi and Rossana Piccioli
The Passing of Augusto Cesare Ambrosi
Professor
Augusto Cesare Ambrosi passed away on March 29, in Florence. He was born in
Casola in Lunigiana in 1919. With him passes the last exponent of the great
school of historiography which included Giovanni Sforza, Ubaldo Formentini,
Ubaldo Mazzini, Manfredo Giuliani and Nino Lamboglia, and which, to its great
credit, investigated the history of Lunigiana from the points of view of the
most diverse disciplines.
In over fifty years of fruitful
intellectual activity, Ambrosi produced over one hundred publications (both
articles and books) devoted not only to regional history but also to speleology,
dialectics, folklore and ethnography, prehistory, ancient history and the
history of castles. Of the most fundamental importance was his contribution to
the systematic study of the statue-stele of the Vale of Magra.
Of Alexandro Malaspina he wrote
little, but knew a lot. And he was among the first in Lunigiana to encourage the
resumption of Malaspina Studies and to enrich the library of our Centro with
valuable publications. But here we want to remember him also for his deep
humanity, his reserved and gentlemanly manner and his goodness, and for the
affectionate attitude with which he knew how to fashion close ties with his
collaborators and with young people. His passing leaves indeed an unfillable
void.
Malaspina-related Writings of A. C. Ambrosi:
-
Manoscritti del "Fondo Giovanni Sforza" nella Biblioteca Civica
"Ubaldo Mazzini" di La Spezia, “Annuario
1985-1986” della Biblioteca Civica di Massa, Massa, 1990, pp. 57-67.
-
Gli studi su Alessandro
Malaspina in Lunigiana, “Giornale Storico della Lunigiana e del Territorio Lucense”, Nuova
Serie, XXXIX (1988), La Spezia, 1991, pp. 143-151.
News from Mulazzo
ª The GAL (Lunigiana Development Leader), has published the
list of projects proposed by public bodies for "Iniziativa comunitaria Leader
Plus-Azione 2.5" under the rubric of programmes directed at the improvement of
knowledge and the development of environmental and cultural resources
(Proclamation no. 1.1, Measure 2, Action 2.5).
Available to be spent are around €400,000, of which 50% will be contributed by
the body and the remainder by GAL.
The project "Archive-Museum of the Malaspinas," proposed the Commune of Mulazzo,
has been accepted and judged suitable for financial support. The "Archive-Museum
of the Malaspinas" - which will be created at the site of our Centro - involves,
among other things, the planned development of new exhibition spaces and of the
auditorium, and the acquisition of furnishings for the rooms housing the
library, which will also be provided with modern multimedia stations.
To accomplish this end it is necessary only to get down to work. We are already
doing so.
World News
ª Nanaimo (British Columbia, Canada).
ª Madrid. On May 20, at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, there will be a presentation of Enzo Rangognini's book L’istitutore aragonese. The "istitutore" is Ramón Ximénez de Cenarbe; the book includes letters written by him to Fabio Ala Ponzone. Ximénez retained friendly relations with Alexandro Malaspina just as much as did Ala Ponzone, and this suggests that the volume will throw new light on the biography of our navigator.
Activities
of the
Centro Malaspina
Our Website!
Finally, our Centro's own website is ready
The address is: www.centrostudimalaspiniani.it
Naturally a lot of things are still to be added, and some pages will be modified. We will do this in the next weeks. We warmly thank our friend Roberta Giovannacci for his helpful and enthusiastic collaboration.
Come visit us,
from time to time, and you will always find new and (we hope) useful things.
Lecture
On Sunday March 16, at 4 pm, in the series:
“Tra Meridiani & Paralleli.
Viaggi, Terre lontane, Culture diverse”,
Luisa Rossi,
lecturer in the history of exploration at the University of Parma, gave a
well-received lecture on
Publications Received
ª Ferruccio Sassi, La Lunigiana (Franco Orengo ed.), La Spezia, Accademia
Lunigianese di Scienze Giovanni Capellini, 2002, pp. 86.
We mention this study – left unpublished for half a century since the death of
the author –
above all for its useful references to Azzo Giacinto Malaspina of
Mulazzo.
ª Umberto Burla, Malaspina di Lunigiana, La Spezia, Luna Editore, 2001 pp. 240.
One chapter (pp. 53-62) is devoted to
Alexandro Malaspina, and contains precise information drawn from the most recent
literature. Not so, unfortunately, for many other members of the family.
ª Luisa Rossi, Per un contributo alla cartografia «minore» e alla toponomastica della Lunigiana: un grande «tipo geometrico» inedito di Matteo Vinzoni conservato nelle Archives Nationales di Parigi, Estr. da Claudio Cerreti e Annalena Taberini (Eds.), La cartografia degli autori minori italiani, Rome, Società Geografica Italiana, 2001, pp. 439-469.
We mention this work especially because it provides rich and “sumptuous” onomatological and toponymic information relating to the Lunigianese territory between the Vara and Magra rivers.
ª Giampietro
Rigosa, Prestatori ebrei a Pontremoli tra XV e XVI secolo. Nei documenti
dell’archivio ducale di Milano,
Villafranca in Lunigiana, Associazione “Manfredo Giuliani, 2003, 108 pp.
Centro di Studi Malaspiniani “Alessandro
Malaspina” – Mulazzo (MS)
e. mail csmalaspiniani@interfree.it
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