Life
Trained in the last phase of Romanticism, his long career led him to reach full artistic maturity in the early 20th century, an era of avant-gardes where the aestheticism of Decadentism, the suggestions of Symbolism, and the radical rupture of Futurism coexisted.
Born in Savignano sul Rubicone in 1853, he became passionate about popular music and developed a repertoire that would mark the history of Romagnolo Liscio. Under the nickname “Zaclén,” he soon became a point of reference for the region's folk dances.
Aneddoto
The violinist “Zaclén”
His nickname, which in dialect means “duckling,” was given to him for his funny gait, but it soon became a mark of likability and popularity.Works
He composed a vast repertoire of waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas that became permanent fixtures in Romagnolo folk orchestras. Among the most famous are La mazurka di Forlimpopoli and Il valzer delle rondini.
His music was performed in town squares and dance halls, helping to spread the taste for Liscio and to consolidate a tradition that is still very much alive.
Briciole di storia
The liquidation of ecclesiastical assets
Within the difficult coexistence between the new Italian State and the Holy See, in 1873 Parliament extended the laws on the suppression of religious corporations and the liquidation of their assets to the city of Rome and Lazio. It was the final act of a process begun with Unification. Monasteries, convents, and immense landed properties of the Church were seized by the State, auctioned off, and transformed into barracks, public offices, schools, and hospitals. This operation, harshly opposed by Pope Pius IX, was a severe blow to the Church's economic power, but also a fundamental move for the Italian State to raise funds and assert its secular sovereignty over the new capital.
Pubblico dominio (Commons)
