Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

Milan, 26 April 2023 – Five mayors, memorable protagonists in the history of Milan, who at different times exercised the role of first citizen in the aftermath of the Liberation of Italy and who were proud opponents of Nazi-fascism during the Resistance. Five different political stories, but with a strong commitment in common: the affirmation of democratic values ​​and freedom.  
Antonio Greppi (1945 – 1951), Virgilio Ferrari (1951-1961), Gino Cassinis (1961-1964), Pietro Bucalossi (1964-1967) and Aldo Aniasi (1967-1976) the partisan Iso: these are the faces chosen for the mural dedicated "to the rebel mayors", in via Lupetta 8. The work was created by the artistic collective Orticanoodles and the OrMe - Ortica Memoria association of Milan, in collaboration with FIAP and the Aniasi Foundation, with the patronage and collaboration of the Art office in the Public Spaces of the Municipality of Milan. 
 
The mural was presented today and is among the events on the Milan program is Memory for the 78th Anniversary of the Liberation. The work covers an area of ​​140 square meters and was created on a blind wall of the former Barnabite College, now under concession to the University of Milan. 
 
The idea of ​​a mural dedicated to the rebel mayors was born by the Milanese historian Antonio Quatela and was developed by the OrMe - Ortica Memoria di Milano association, which coordinated the project. Mayors protagonists of the moral and political redemption of the city of Milan; rebels because they opposed, at different times and in different ways, dictatorship and the horrors of war. Some experienced the Great War in the trenches and all, under Nazi-fascist barbarism, experienced multiple sufferings: some prison, some persecution, some confinement, some the partisan fight in the mountains, some the killing of a son. 
The work is a tribute to five passionate mayors who contributed to the rebirth of Milan in the sign of unity, freedom, solidarity and work, with an impulse towards the future and the will to commit to building a legacy for the citizens of Tomorrow. 
 
There is Antonio Greppi (1894-1982), the mayor of the Liberation, builder of peace and rights, who opposed the showdown after 25 April, despite the fact that the fascists of the Ettore Muti legion had murdered his son Mariolino. As mayor he rebuilt the Scala and reopened Brera with the heroic director Fernanda Wittgens. 
With him there are: Virgilio Ferrari (1888-1975), the gentleman doctor mayor, who created an unparalleled hospital network in Europe against tuberculosis, the pandemic of the time, and launched Line 1 of the metro; Gino Cassinis (1885-1964), the mayor-rector, who risked his life to protect the SAP (Patriotic Assault Squads) by hiding weapons and a two-way radio in the spaces of city universities. As mayor, he returned the Polytechnic to Milan, an excellence in research and training that today attracts talent from all over the world. 
And again, Pietro Bucalossi (1905-1992), the medical mayor general, who clandestinely organized healthcare support for the resisters, and then founded the National Cancer Institute and built social housing at subsidized rent and gave students an excellent school lunch. And finally Aldo Aniasi (1921-2005), the mayor commander in Garibaldi's mountain brigades with the name of “Iso” who fought the German army and the fascists of Salò for twenty months. 
 
The work is part of the larger "OrMe sulla città" project of the OrMe - Ortica Memoria di Milano association, and is added to the dozens of murals that make up the first open-air museum in Milan dedicated to Memory and the city, where the history is written on the walls. 
This morning, the inauguration ceremony was attended by the Deputy Rector of the University of Milan, Professor Maria Pia Abbracchio, the President of the OrMe - Ortica Memoria di Milano association, Serafino Sorace, and the President of FIAP, Luca Aniasi. And then Fiorella Imprenti, Member of the Presidency of the Aniasi Foundation, Walter Contipelli of the artistic collective Orticanoodles, Antonio Quatela, historian.   
Also present were representatives of the municipal administration and Municipality 1. 
 
The mural of the rebel mayors and the collaboration with Orticanoodles and OrMe – Ortica Memoria are also part of the Milano è Memoria project, the platform created in 2017 to highlight and remember people, facts and events that testify to the history and identity of the city of Milan . 
 
OrMe - Ortica Memoria di Milano is a social promotion association sponsored by the Municipality of Milan which promotes urban regeneration through the creation of cultural, artistic, recreational and training activities. It was born in 2017 as a participatory art project with the aim of transforming the historic Ortica district into an open-air museum through the creation of murals on the themes of Memory and the history of the city of Milan. Citizens, local associations, schools, universities, bodies and other public and private organizations with social, cultural, historical and artistic purposes participate in the implementation of the projects. For more information: click here