The conference at the Umanitaria in Milan
The conference Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli dal 1922 took place in the city of Milan, a tradition in evolution at the headquarters of the Società Umanitaria, thanks to the precious collaboration of the Fogolâr Furlan of Milan.
After the institutional greetings of Alberto Jannuzzelli president of the Società Umanitaria, Stefano Lovison president of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli and Loris Basso president of the Ente Friuli nel Mondo, Gian Piero Brovedani, director of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli gave a detailed report, accompanied by a rich apparatus of images including archival photographs, documents, works, sketches.
Retracing the history of the Scuola, which has just completed its 100th year of activity, Brovedani wanted to highlight how the tradition of mosaic and terrazzo widespread in western Friuli is inextricably linked to Venice. This artisan knowledge was handed down on the territory in family workshops and has left important traces all over the world that we can still admire today in civil and religious buildings. When young people began to emigrate again in the post-war period in search of employment, it was believed that a solid education was for them the security of a decent and rewarding job. Hence the intuition of opening a school that taught a trade, one that was already widespread and peculiar in this part of Friuli. In the establishment of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli the commitment of the Municipality of Spilimbergo with the then mayor Ezio Cantarutti was fundamental and among the various supporters of the new educational reality there was also the Humanitarian Society which persuaded by the words of Lodovico Zanini, its delegate in region, as a philanthropic institution, gave economic support.
Hence the desire to tell the story of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in this very place in Milan through a report that from its origins then retraced the salient events of a century of life, up to the present day, emphasizing the transformations, difficulties, successes: from the great mosaics made all over the world, to the actions taken to make the art of mosaic known and valued, from the experiences inherited from the past to the innovations imposed by the needs and expressive researches of the contemporary age.
The satisfaction of the large Milanese public and the acknowledgments received from many quarters once again highlight the commitment and success of a unique institution in Italy in the knowledge and training of the art of mosaic.
Article dedicated to the event at the Fogolâr Furlan in Milan.
30 January 2023
