Gianluca Rapisarda - EN - Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone Gioeni": 100 years of history, 100 years of light! (1911-2011)

7/27/2019 Gianluca Rapisarda - EN - Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone Gioeni": 100 years of history, 100 years of light! (1911

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International Congress of Paris on History of the Blindness (23-26th June 2013)

Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone Gioeni": 100 years of history, 100 years of light! (1911-2011);

Gianluca Rapisarda (PhD at the University of Catania)

Introduction

Im attending a PhD at the University of Catania and Im making an essay about the histories of

main European Institutes for the Blind in order to rebuild, in general, cultural context of ourcontinent where visually impaired persons lived during the last centuries and, above all, in order to

underline gradual phases of blind peoples process of education and integration into European

modern society.

This research allowed me to deepen the question of the blindness and education of the blind people

in Europe, visiting important European cities and consulting their historical archives. I also had the

pride to be hosted in the Royal Institute of Blind of London and in the National Institute of Blind of

Paris.

Obviously, this interesting and great cultural experience is giving me the significant chance to make

comparison between the different way of teaching and of educating the blind people in Europe.

The important thing to underline is that in all over the Europe is taking place the trand to consider

the visually impaired as equal as the normal sighted, enrolling them in the mainstream school.

Im the President of Institute for the blind of Catania Ardizzone Gioeni as well. In fact, Im also

concentrating my studies and my researches of the last years above all on the history of the Institute

I represent by studying documents recovered in it and in the historical archives of the city of

Catania.

Thanks to these studies, I discovered how glorious became the Institute of the Blind of Cataniabecause of altruistic attitude of its founder: the philanthropist Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni, baron of

St. Vitus (born 1803). In 1884 he delivered to a solicitor all his immense wealth destining it secretly

for the building of a "hospice-hospital for the housing and caring of indigent blind people of both

sexes and of all ages. The reason of such a benevolent choice was not only related to the lack of a

direct heir, he was mostly moved by his love for mankind, especially for "poor" blind persons.

In a forthcoming publication, I wrote last year on the occasion of the centenary of the Institute, I

wanted not only to consider its foundation by such a benefactor, but also to analyse the man

Ardizzone Gioeni: his life, his ideals, his family. So, with many difficulties, this type of approach

has revealed facts and events that helped us to start a new and unprecedented discovery of the man

Ardizzone Gioeni.


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The years of Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni

On April 14th 1894 when Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni died in Catania, the novelist Giovanni Verga,

settled permanently in the city center after spending more than twenty years in Milan. And only afew months later, in August, the editions of the Brothers Treves of "The Viceroy" by the sicilian

writer Federico De Roberto, marked a period of significant reactions and controversy.

On September 25th of the same year, with the inauguration of the railway, it was completed the path

Catania-Borgo/Riposto Circumetnea in order to tighten the belt around the mountain-sea of the

territory and soon after the large bequest of the Baron of San Vito had secretly insured "in the relief

of the indigent blind of both sexes", the building of a Hospice-hospital in the service of the blind "is

in a state of health and disease".

The grand monumental complex was settled far north on the central path of '"immense Etna Road",

glittering of trade and business, seen by the magistrate judge and poet John Camerana as "a barrier

of fire and endless gold". But, throughout the long history of its construction, the increasingly

modern city of Catania, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Hospice accomplished on May

30th 1911, was renewed and in Piazza Roma was located an equestrian monument dedicated to the

king Umberto I, '"imprimatur" Royal Savoy.

At the ceremony, in a late spring day, it was present, along with the King and Queen, the PrimeMinister Giovanni Giolitti, mostly mattered and scared at the same time by the frequent earthquakes

(in August 1894 the earth had trembled at least nine times!).

Who was Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni?

Thomas was a bourgeois landowner. His properties, mainly agricultural ones, extended in Ramacca,

Patern and Belpasso, where he farmed mostly vines and olive trees. His home was in Catania, in

the central Via Vittorio Emanuele. He had a faithful servant and many horses. He married late in lifewith a wealthy widow, descended from the Patern Castello, with whom he shared many years of

his long life. He died at the age of 91. The public notary Carmine Martinez had received his secret

will in 1884. It was a clear and detailed layout of a man finding himself "to the divine will of sound

mind and body". Its provisions interested many people who had attended Ardizzone Gioeni for

friendship, relationship or job. To many of these he left something. The bulk of his property,

however, was intended for his sole heir, he had identified in the foundation of a future European

Institute for the Blind in relief of destitute men and women, which he designed in every detail: the

Hospice-Hospital Ardizzone Gioeni . Such a decision definitely created astonishment and

admiration, but even resentment at the same time.

Today, 100 years after the foundation of the Institute greatly inaugurated in 1911 at the presence of


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King Vittorio Emanuele II, there are still very few words that describe the figure of its founder.

Precise generosity as first regarding to the construction of the Hospice and to devote his entire

fortune to less fortunate people that stand in the testament. He was not only an altruist but also

reserved person as his life and his ideals demonstrate. Dealing with this confidence, though many

difficulties, has revealed facts and events that help today to start a first and unprecedented discovery

of the man Ardizzone Gioeni.

The archives

The consultation of the archives has led to the drafting of the family tree, while a short but prolific

research into the historical archives of the Institute, already partially ordered by Dr. Cristina Grasso

director of the State Archives of Catania, allowed to recover some letters of interest and the first

written documents relating to the will of the founder.

At the same time, the consultation of the Notary Archives of Catania, where various parts of

bequests and provisions to the closest people are saved. The latest addition to the testament, written

in 1888, shows an unchanged eighty-year-old man with a spirit in dealing with administrative

accuracy until the end, his last will. He passed away six years later in 1894.

Ninety years of life

Dying at the age of 91, Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni faced inevitably a number of deaths, first and

foremost that of his brother Joseph, who died in 1822, when he was just 12 years old in unverified

circumstances. But its longevity (1) also allowed him to live a full century of vicissitudes relating to

the island, full of revolutionary processes which had their culmination in the epic of the

Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy in 1861.

Among the innumerable letters that Thomas Gioeni Ardizzone had written, many inquiries

regarding the subscription to the newspaperIl Pungiglione of Naples, effective organ of intellectual

and political life founded in 1860 by Jacopo Comin. As part of the discovery of the man Ardizzone

Gioeni, this gives us a useful information about his political ideas that manifested a liberal spirit,very common at that time among the wealthy landowners of the island. Il Pungiglione, with peaks

of 10,000 to 12,000 copies per day and certified for positions close to the Left Constitutional side, it

would be imposed for an extended period as the most popular newspaper in the South (2).

The second will. The memory of his uncle Gaetano

In 1888, Thomas, 85 years at that time, felt the need to provide further bequests. Among these,

those related to its perpetual abode, asking " to request a soil surface of our graveyard able to make

my mausoliero, which must represent a very small church with a well conditioned altar (...) where

will be located in my half life-size marble bust (...) and in which will be enclosed my body and my


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beloved wifes one, Mrs Marianna Anzalone, as well as the excellent uncle, Mr Gaetano Ardizzone

Marzachi in certificate of gratitude, because at the time of his death he remembered me. "

The bond and the likely empathize with his uncle Gaetano Ardizzone, who died in 1873 without

heirs, in fact, emerges from this additional executor. Already in 1880 the first testament of Thomas

cited his uncle as a respectable man, and in two letters define him as a good and affectionate uncle.His uncle was a witness of the marriage between Thomas and Arianna in 1867 and then, dying,

gave to his young nephew a citrus orchard in the district of Ognina Fund. Probably because of this

generosity Thomas remembered his uncle in the moment of death by reserving a seat next to him

and his wife in the new cemetery of Catania. Thomas himself, in his will, specified that this will

also derived from the fact that Uncle Gaetano was "buried in the local foreign Fasseri Entitlement

among gentlemen." Who were Fasseri and why his uncle was "forced" to be accommodated among

strangers? It is still not known, as it is not known where the father of Thomas, Nicholas, was buried.

Thomas showed his desire to have his father beside him as he did for his uncle.

A man of law

It is not known if Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni graduated and where. The archives of the University of

Catania takes time and dedication to get enrolled and graduated during the years when he was

young. Notwithstanding, it has yet been possible to recover the private papers in which we might

find some information about it.

What we have noticed, however, is careful competence in the administration of his estate, and a

precise knowledge of the laws that regulated the new Unitary State. A testimony of this is primarilya legacy to his friend Mr. Giuseppe De Luca Carnazza in certificate of good friendship, a collection

of laws and decrees from 1818 until 1894 and works by other laws. And secondly, the numerous

letters addressed to the Director of the Royal Printing House for the dispatch of annual collections

of laws and decrees of the new Kingdom.

It is also interesting to read about in the vast amount of writings addressed to his lawyers, mayors

and prefects in which he claimed his rights and all his family members on issues of any kind.

Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni was definitely a learned man who administered his estate with dedication

and responsibility. This is testified by its large collection of laws and decrees and the ease withwhich constantly interjected with public figures, lawyers, legal and administrative issues in the

management of its assets.

The family crest. A grandfather important

In testamentary disposition regarding the founding of the Hospice-Hospital for the Blind of both

sexes, Ardizzone Gioeni gives instructions on "the building to be built with the access to a large

door in the front of which it was to be attached a marble coat of arms of my family." And not just inthe door. Visiting the Institute, as well as the frescoes of the monumental staircase and the beautiful

church, it is easy to run in two coats. The first, in which stands a flaming tower, representing


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Ardizzone Gioeni,. the second one, in which there are two eagles, crowned with the torso of a lion

that is the symbol of Gioeni.

With regards to his descendants, it is worth pausing a moment on the grandfather of Thomas, Sir

Joseph Gioeni. He was one of the first Italian natural scientists and author of many publications

including a major report on the eruption of mount Etna in July 1787. His memory is well

established in the town because he gives the name to the famous "Roundabout" at the end of main

street of Catania and to the park above. Another memory in the city of Cavalier Gioeni is the

important Gioenia Academy (3), conceived and founded by him immediately after his death in 1823

by a group of scholars who gave it his name. At first it was called "Gioenia Academy of Natural

Sciences in Catania", and was housed in the Central Palace of the University, thereafter it was

moved, between 1945 and 1950, in the Science Building, in Corso Italia. The Academy is

recognized as a legal institution, since 1919, as well as the Institute for the Blind founded by the

nephew. It is not a coincidence that the Academy is right there. The building is in fact the former

Gioeni family mansion. In the south part of Piazza Universit, a bronze monument stands on thefront to remind "the prince of Italian naturalists" (4).

Marianna. The dowry returned. The request for cancellation of the Old Testament by Isabella

Lorenza

In parallel to the testamentary dispositions concerning the founding of the Hospice-Hospital,

Thomas did not forget his life and his family. Thanks to the recovery of Annex 4 to the will of 20

January 1880, one can first of all highlight his concerns for his wife, Marianna Anzalone (5), his

wife of sixty years, married in the Collegiate Church on June 16, 1867, which, along with a

substantial annuity left her the usufruct of the fourth Noble Course (one floor of the palace of Via

Vittorio Emanuele 245, then the "Road Course"), with its appendages that barn, shed, Pagliera,

placed adjacent room, ground floor house and shop guardaposta side of the said road course for

home coachman and the room that leads into the parterre. This floor, after the death of Thomas, was

then inhabited by his wife, while in the rest of the building settled the foundation Fidecommissaria

Institute inaugurated in 1911. This result was perhaps not peaceful coexistence. And in fact is very

likely that among the testamentary heir (The Institute Fidecommissaria, Ed) and his wife began a

troubled relationship, which reached the height of tension with the suing and request from the wife

of "restitution" of dowry for marriage. After many disputes, she was granted the sum of 20,782.86pounds (total income of all the assets appeared then to 71,991.41 pounds / year). Always consider

the context of testamentary disputes relevant to legal proceedings by which the grandchildren

Isabella Lorenza and Ardizzone (the late Litterio (6)), demanded the annulment of the will to suing

Fidecommissaria which "had to resort to a loan 60,000 pounds to meet the payment of court costs

(...) of which only lawyers Palmario was 30,000 lire "(7). The opening of the secret thus gave

impetus to a difficult period that saw the new foundation problems targeted by judicial,

administrative and economic conditions which were overcome only after about a decade.

A good Catholic. His funeral chapel, "without winged genei and similar"


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Thomas proved on many occasions to be a good Catholic, so it is clear from his writings and his

actions. This is evident, for example, from the legacy of three hundred pounds in favor of the

establishment of the Sisters of this small town, but the provisions for the Institute to be built a

church for the religious exercise of all the inhabitants thereof. In the provisions on the construction

of the Cemetery Chapel of Catania also, clearly specifies that it is realized as a surrogate for Church

where our aspirations tend, as a true Catholic, adding that in it there are no symbols, winged geneiand similar to ' Romans used the age of paganism.

About their own chapel, even more interesting was going to read the memoirs (8) of prof. Louis

Battle, a sculptor who was commissioned by the neo Fidecommissaria Hospital Ardizzone Gioeni to

realize the little monument to Pius founder Cav. Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni, to lie in the Chapel

Cemetery in this city.

"I saw a bust of Uncle Gioeni Ardizzone, sculptured by the famous Artist Mr. Battaglia and I saw so

much similarity in the sculpture and I was fully satisfied," cites a note of Baron Nicholas Anzalone,

a cousin of Thomas, dated 2 September 1898, called by the same battle to verify the work

performed. And one of the 15 October 1898, the Duke Imbert: "She invited me to give judgment on

the information that I look like a bust, executed by her, my cousin of the late Cav. Thomas

Ardizzone Gioeni. It 's good that I tell her that I was called by the latter's widow, Mrs. Marianna

Anzalone, and I had the honor of coming in her study without any presentation, but only to please

my ladys cousin. I was pleased to note that in this bust is faithfully reproduced the features of the

deceased, which she gathered from a portrait provided by his widow, so that is my opinion, the

same that I gave them was to make a statement in the affirmative. With the pleasure of having made

his personal acquaintance I have the right to tell me of her precious ladies much obliged servant. "

But on 14 November of that year came a communication from the Secretary of the Institute,

addressed to the same battle, which lobbies for "willing to put marble busts of the worthy Knight.

Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni, and carry out its little monument." Probably everything was delivered,

but something did not go well over the years so that the same Battle added later, in his notes, a note

of mystery to the little monument he built for the Chapel of the cemetery: "stolen? In the Hospice

there are two busts, one in the church and the other in the hall of the Presidency. The little

disappeared after the administration of Cav. William Carcaci (first administration since April 14,

1894 December 31, 1903 (9). And to think that was inaugurated by King VE III who found him

simple and beautiful. "

The chapel was still contracted and built, though with much delay, for administrative and financial

problems of Fidecommissaria, by Francesco Nicotra for the total cost of 3454 pounds. Based on the

drawings of Ing Garra, sculptor Giuseppe Lazzaro executed the stucco interiors, the painter Vito

Musumeci, reported by Francesco di Bartolo (who also suggested the name of Battle for the marble

bust) painted the fresco of the door. The work finally ended between September to October 1900,

allowing the final move of the body of Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni from the pit in which lay safe for

the past six years without even a headstone (10), which he wanted as the eternal abode in Catania

Cemetery.


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History of the Institute for the Blind of Catania Ardizzone Gioeni

After his death, in 1894, it was immediately installed the board of direction of the Institute

Ardizzone Gioeni, whose members are now appointed respectively by the following organizations:

the Prefecture of Catania, the Italian Union of the blind and partially sighted people of Catania, theRegional Province of Catania, the Town of Catania and finally the Church of the city.

In 1895, after a Royal Decree, the Institute was erected at IPAB, while the construction of

prestigious structure in Etnea street 595, assigned to Eng. Fichera, was completed in 1908. Three

years later, on May 30th 1911, the Institute for the Blind Ardizzone Gioeni situated in the central

Etnea street in Catania was solemnly inaugurated in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III and

Queen Elena.

The statute of IPAB "Ardizzone Gioeni", approved by RD August 2, 1912, assigned to the Institute

specified tasks and aims and addressed it to a particular category of needs: those blind. These aims

are:

to welcome young blind of both sexes and to ensure their moral education and physical, literary,

musical and industrial education;

to shelter and to educate blind adults of both sexes;

to accommodate the frequency of school pupils and outside pupils;

to arrange for cure, either through outpatient hospital, sick eyes persons of both sexes.

To achieve these purposes, until 1974, the Institute for the Blind of Catania hosted, under the

boarding school and day-school, blind pupils of compulsory school, lovingly cared for and educated

by the Sisters of St. Anne.

After the Act 517 of 1977, which established the integration of students with disability in normal

school", the Institute for the Blind Ardizzone Gioeni has become the headquarters of the Regional

School for the industry and crafts for the blind, with the activation of professional courses for the

training of blind receptionists and physiotherapists.

Finally, Id like to mention that the Institute Ardizzone Gioeni, in recent years, has begun an

intensive cultural exchange with international institutions such as: Dorton College in England,

Museum for the blind of Madrid and, especially, National Institute for the blind of Paris, which

hosted Louis Braille. Thanks to these relations I was managed to know better history of these

European institutions and history of assistance and education of blind people in Europe.

Thanks to it, Institute Ardizzone Gioeni could create strong synergy and close collaboration with

the Institute for the blind of Paris, directed by Mrs. Franoise Sabotier-Grenon, and also with the

Department of Modern History at the Faculty of Humanities of University of Catania for Paolo

Militello and Emanuele Rapisardas initiative and with Faculty of Educational Science of University

of Catania thanks to Natalina Severinos support. This cooperation allowed the creation of an

original and interesting Editorial Series on the history of disability. In fact, thanks to Salvo

Falcones translation (cooperated by Simona Mazza), it was already printed (for the first time in


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Italy with Bonanno Company) Louis Brailles unpublished letters cured by Emanuele Rapisarda.

We are also next to print for the first time in Italy Louis Brailles Proceeds cured by me.

With this series of books, produced in Braille with audio-guide, the Institute Ardizzone Gioeni and

its partners want to give a contribution to a field of historical research so poor, especially in Italy,

and to help the blind to have a better knowledge and understanding of historical situation of

disabled people in the past.

A search across open

This historical research has been aimed at opening the doors to a deeper discovery of the man

Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni and the Institute he strongly desired, with the conviction that this is not

only able to provide additional historical information not only on the founder of the pious Institute

and on the same, but that gives new rich information about the city and its inhabitants. During the

research period, the following offices and archives have been consulted, with the difficult task of

reconstructing the pieces of a hundred years of life of the Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone

Gioeni":

State Archives of Catania, Syracuse State Archives, Historical Archives of Catania, Ardizzone

Gioeni Institute Archives, Archives of the Archbishop of Catania, the Cemetery Offices of Catania,

Catania Notarial Archives, joined Libraries "Ursino-Recupero", Toponymy Office of the city of

Catania, Central State Archives (Rome), Library of the Senate "G. Spadolini", University Library of

Catania.

We also thank the heads of the institutions mentioned above for their willingness to grant me the

consulation of the historical record, source of this publication.

In particular: Dr. Christine Grasso, Director of the State Archives of Catania, Dr. Aldo Joseph

Dinolfo and Mr. Belvedere, respectively, at the Office Managers Office and the Library of the

Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone Gioeni", prof. Francesco Di Vincenzo for providing the historical

memories of his grandfather, the sculptor prof. Luigi Battle. Special thanks to Father Petri, gentle

pastor of St. Augustine, which granted approval for a visit to the crypt of the church and to Dr.

Livio Tancredi Lombardo and his mother Rachel, to Dr. Maria Fichera for research and for their

valuable advice during the same and for making a beautiful watercolor portrait of Thomas.

Bibliographic Notes:

(1) Regarding to the longevity of Ardizzone Gioeni, it is interesting to take a small step back to the

great-grandmother Maria Pharaoh. It 's amazing the fact that she died in 1829 at the ripe old age of


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102.

(2) Encyclopedia Treccani, Jacopo Comin

(3) History of the Academy Gioenia of Catania (http://www3.unict.it/gioenia/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=356&Itemid=27)

(4) From the effigy of the monument in Piazza Universit, created by the sculptor Mario Rutelli and

opened July 19th, 1908

(4) Marianna Anzalone, the widow of Rosario Mondelli, was the daughter of Nicholas Anzalone

Patern Castello. At the time of her marriage to Thomas Ardizzone Gioeni, she was thirty-eight

years old and lived in Catania in Largo Manganelli No. 7

(5) Probable uncle of Thomas, whose ancestry, however, is not demonstrated by archival sources

(6) Note of 25 June 1898 of the History log of the proceedings of the Ardizzone Fidecommissaria

Gioeni, vol I(7) Memoirs of prof. Luigi Battle

(8) From the publication printed on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the inauguration of the

Institute (30 May 1911-30 May 2001)

(9) Note of 25 June 1898 of the History log of the deliberations of Fidecommissaria Gioeni

Ardizzone, vol I

ANNEXES (see file)

-Certificate of Marriage between Thomas and Marianna Ardizzone Gioeni Anzalone c/o Collegiate

Church, Catania in June 16, 1867

- Ardizzone Gioeni family tree

-Gioeni Family Crest / Former Palace Gioeni / University Square, Catania

Documents

Gianluca Rapisarda - EN - Institute for the Blind "Ardizzone Gioeni": 100 years of history, 100 years of light! (1911-2011)