Our member Alessandro Pratesi, one of the members of the Scientific Organizing Committee of the exhibition, sent us a report of the splendid initiative, which took place in Teramo with a wide consensus from the public, experts and authorities, on 8-23 October 2021, which we gladly share, also for the many aeronautical themes connected to it.
The exhibition focused on the re-enactment and historical-cultural analysis of the Fiumana feat and, more generally, on the figure of an emblematic character from Abruzzo, such as Gabriele D’Annunzio. The Fiumana feat developed from September 1919 to the end of 1920, but in fact D’Annunzio and the Legionaries left Fiume definitively on Jan 18,1921, so that 2021 represents the centenary year of the conclusion of the Fiumana feat, which also inspires the subtitle of the exhibition: D’ANNUNZIO A FIUME / Cultural events for the centenary of the Rijeka company.
As can be seen from the rich program illustrated here, the exhibition was organized to represent in the most exhaustive way possible, through documents, graphic arts, models and period costumes, the climate and customs of the D’Annunzio era.
As you can see from the succession of images attached below, large spaces were dedicated to advertising graphic art (there were 14 large original posters), to artistic expressions (including three large original sketches by Michetti for the Italian Post Office, unfortunately not accepted), fashionable (with three original dresses loaned by the descendant of woman Vinca Delfico, frequented for many years by D’Annunzio), to technical (three original motorcycles that participated in the Great War), to philately (an entire sector dedicated to D’Annunzio’s Postal History of Fiume, edited by Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi, Carlo Giovanardi and Oliviero Emoroso), to music (a beautiful performance by the Choral of Teramo on motifs of the period), to cinema (screening of some clips of Cabiria,provided by the Cinema Museum of Turin and screening of the film “Il Cattivo Poeta”, with Sergio Castellitto, followed by expert comments).
In the documentary part of the exhibition there was a wide selection of aerophilatelic documents relating to the history of aviation, D’Annunzio’s flights, propaganda flyers, mostly objects of Alessandro Pratesi’s collections.
To complete the program, as shown in the photos, a gathering of vintage cars from the D’Annunzio period (a selection of 27 very rare cars, a true open-air museum, of an absolute level among national events), with a conference in latere which saw the participation of the greatest exponents of the Italian Association of Historic Vehicles, including an aviation expert, who spoke extensively of the development of aviation in the D’Annunzio period, in particular of the famous D’Annunzio flights.
But a distinctive element of the initiative, from a cultural point of view, were the numerous in-depth conferences, each of which with several reports by national and international experts.
Among the relationships the following can be mentioned:
- Historical and political framework of the Rijeka Company (Speakers: Giovanni Stelli, Emiliano Loria);
- Communication witnessing the History of Rijeka: Mail, graphics and semantics (Speakers: Sen. Carlo Giovanardi, Oliviero Emoroso);
- The international context of D’Annunzio’s enterprise (Speaker: Ugo Barlozzetti);
- The New Man marks the institutions of Rijeka: the Carnaro card (Speaker: Alessandro Pratesi);
- D’annunzio innovator in language, communication, customs and commercial propaganda (Speakers: Paola Di Felice, Christian Corsi, Alessandro Pratesi, Loredana Ioannoni);
- Modern motorsport was born from the Great War (Speaker: Luca Manneschi);
- D’Annunzio Aviator (Speaker: Luciano Sadini);
On October 19 the exhibition also saw the participation of Giordano Bruno Guerri, President of the Vittoriale, who reported on:
- A Poet, a vision, a word: I disobey! The Ideals, the historical sense and the events of the Rijeka enterprise;
And finally:
- The artistic excellence of the annual twenties (Speakers: Massimo Cirulli, Alberto Melarangelo, Maurizio Scudiero, Paola Di Felice).
Here is a roundup of images from the event:
