Creating a cultural center for exposure and knowledge: Stefania's story | Stories of youth and culture

The appointment with our Stories of Youth and Culture initiative opens with the story of Stefania Lorandi, a young South Tyrolean woman who, together with two partners, wanted to create almost from nothing a cultural center consisting of a museum with adjoining exhibition space, in the environment of a World War II air raid shelter located underground in Bolzano, South Tyrol’s largest air raid shelter. It all started from a project of just one week, which was then expanded through the work of the cooperative founded by Stefania, who recounts for us her own experience!

Dear Fellow Readers,

my name is Stefania, I am 25 years old and I am in the last year of the master’s degree program of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage, historical-artistic address. Right now I am struggling with my last two exams and thesis preparation and panic is rampant. One only has to read any newspaper, print or otherwise, to realize the difficulties in which our country finds itself, difficulties that are even heavier for us young people. In this situation, culture is also the last wheel on the wagon, when it could actually turn into a driving force, and thus the prospects for us in the sector are even worse. Personally, I think I can consider myself lucky because two years ago I had the opportunity to found a cultural cooperative named Thalia (the name of the muse of Greek comedy) together with two other partners.

The goal was, and still is, to create cultural events pertaining to the history, art and larcheology of South Tyrol, the area where I reside. Since the work was not there, I thought, Why not try to create suitable opportunities? After a somewhat muted start with free initiatives to bring the public closer, the first jobs came including running a book lending gazebo during the summer and guided tours of a World War II air raid shelter preserved under a building in the city of Bolzano. It was precisely this latter initiative, which actually lasted only one week, that made us realize how interested people were in this historical period; in fact, only 17 tours were planned, but in the end we had 43 with an influx of 800 visitors in just a few days.

This experience deeply marked us, both because of the interest shown and because we were fortunate to learn very moving testimonies from people who lived through the war. So we began to think about a more articulated project, imagining that we could open to the public the largest air raid shelter in Alto Adige with its 4500 square meters all carved out inside a rock face and create a small museum out of it. Our idea was to offer, in addition to the guided tour, a space set up with photographic, historical, and art exhibitions, granting the space free of charge to transform a forgotten and abandoned artifact into a cultural center. Ultimately, we were keen to continue collecting testimonies of elderly people before their inevitable loss. The first steps related to the various applications, bureaucratic procedures, and issuance of permits were rather slow, and in such cases it is always important to be patient and not give up.

Once all the documents were obtained, the most physically exhausting part began, which was cleaning most of the surface of the shelter. We started working in twos, armed with overalls and an anti-dust sprayer, moving stones, rubble, carrying away trash, bringing back to light a forgotten piece of history, but not by the many boys who had entered the place over the years, leaving traces of their passage. At a certain point we realized that by ourselves we would never make it, and fortunately an unexpected proposal came up: a friend of mine, who at that very time was doing an internship at Caritas, told me about the possibility of having young immigrants work there, giving them the opportunity to earn something in return for compensation from Caritas to which we made a subsequent donation. I think this kind of cooperation is crucial at a time like the one we are living in, where cooperation between even different realities is very important. I can say that these four young boys from Africa have been a fundamental presence and have really helped us in carrying out the work. The next step was the inspection carried out by the geologists (you may be wondering why the inspection had not been done before the immanent effort, the answer is that sometimes unfortunately we get the timing wrong) with subsequent disintegration of some parts of the rock.

All that was missing at this point were the chains to mark off the walkable corridors, signage and the purchase of a set of flashlights, protective helmets and 25 chairs for visitors. Speaking of the exhibits we had planned to organize, a curious thing actually happened. Shortly after applying for passage on the provincial parcel we were contacted by an official who has been involved in the study of bunkers and shelters in our territory for years, who proposed a beautiful photographic exhibition of his on this subject, which was promptly set up with thirteen panels inside a room.

Starting tomorrow, again thanks to his intervention, we will have a historical exhibition on the bunkers of the Alpine Wall, which was made a few years ago by the Province and is now being proposed again. The shelter was opened on April 19 and can be visited every Friday and Saturday afternoon. We also conduct visits at other times and on other days upon request. Along with us are volunteers from theAna Civil Defense who with great professionalism welcome people when they arrive and help us distribute helmets and batteries. From April to date we have had over 700 visitors with an average of 100 visitors per weekend and numerous school classes. The visit lasts an average of one hour during which we walk with groups of up to twenty people through the long corridors of the refuge with only the lighting of the batteries. When we arrive inside a room, lit by twelve candles, we turn off the flashlights and begin to talk about the time of the bombing of Bolzano, the Nazi occupation, the air raid shelters, the hardships of the population, but also the strong sense of solidarity that was never lacking. We also read testimonies that were given to us. Afterwards, to relax the mood a bit we take people to see a pond that was created inside a tunnel and in the next corridor a natural wonder, a long vault with stalactites and on the ground stalagmites. Turning back toward the exit, we show our small museum: some objects found by cleaning in the different rooms. Finally we stop to look at the exhibits set up.

I wanted to tell you about my experience despite the fact that this is not a work in a real museum, but rather in a cultural space carved out from scratch within an existing environment simply recovered from years of oblivion. This is a project that we think is important and has been made possible thanks to the help of several people and thanks to the willingness of us members to invest money by believing in our project. The public is repaying us for our hard work with their attendance, comments and interest. I think the way forward is this: to collaborate, to create opportunities for people from different cultural fields to meet and exchange ideas, to reason and above all to dare.

Stefania Lorandi

Images:


Entrance to the shelter


One of the exhibitions set up

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.