The educational project at “Dante Alighieri” school of Olgiate Olona
In order to provide continuity and sightedness to the memory of June 26, 1959, an educational project has been started in 2010 thanks to the intuition of Alberto Colombo supported by Beato Contardo Ferrini Institute and by the Municipality of Olgiate Olona. The project is addressed to the students in the eighth-grade of Dante Alighieri school and consists of: a multimedia conversation in the classroom about the historical fact and the commemorative events, dialog with the students, screening of the video of song Olgiate Olona, 26 Giugno 1959 composed by Nicola Puddu; production of a work written in Italian language follows. The works in poetry and prose are received anonymous; then they are selected and judged by a jury outside the school; the most deserving works - those which best reflect the historical fact and the commemorative events - are rewarded during the commemoration of June the 26. Because of their exceptional nature, some works received a Special award offered personally by Alberto Colombo with the authorization of Olgiate Olona mayor.
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Commemoration of June 26, 2011 - Alice Tascone, first classified
Commemoration of June 26, 2011 - Debora Castiglioni, second classified
Commemoration of June 26, 2011 - Chiara Segato, third classified
Works awarded school year 2010-2011
The educational project in memory of the plane crash was addressed to all the students in eighth grade of Dante Alighieri school. The following are the translations of the works rewarded during the commemoration of June 26, 2011.
First classified, the poem Uno sguardo al cielo by ALICE TASCONE:
Uno sguardo al cielo
(a look at the sky)
In the same sky that I’m looking at,
blue and hot for the summer sun,
one distant day, a plane was flying
and as all the planes
it was carrying people
seventy people
with their endless stories, with joy...
but a lightning carried them off
in an instant a dazzling lightning
then... nothing
only a huge void and
an unknown limbo for many years
but now in my country
everything has become clear:
memories have sowed some seeds,
memory is alive again,
solidarity has become active.
From the same sky that I look at,
seventy angels
of that summer day
(with their eyes full of light)
are still looking at us
and continue to whisper:
remember and love.
Second classified, the poem Nel cielo by DEBORA CASTIGLIONI:
Nel cielo
(in the sky)
Thunder and lightning
unleash the hell in the sky.
The world stops in an instant.
An injured, broken
four-engined plane appears,
wrapped in a nightmarish halo...
Anguishing smell of death,
panic, fear of who see,
silence of who have no more words
silence of who have no hope.
In horrified eyes
images carved in the memory
indelible, awful
bitter taste
on the skin
frozen pain
but now...
Something has changed:
the pain has faded
in memory of the heart
and time has softened the horror
healing all with
solidarity and love.
Third classified, the elaborate in prose Certo se l’avessi saputo! by CHIARA SEGATO:
Certo se l’avessi saputo!
(sure, if I had known!)
Sure, if I had known! I wouldn’t have boarded... I was young and I wanted to live. I had many plans and I was traveling to carry them out. I had faith in progress, in technology, in the airplane. Destiny ambushed me instead. Want to know what it feels like? A mixture of disbelief and astonishment, fear and resignation. Suddenly I saw all the most important people in flashbacks, fleeting images which in a few seconds have revived in me memories, joys and sorrows. A moment later I was dead. I saw from above the flames rising from a place I did not know. So my youth and my dreams burned together with the airplane. Those who knew me are reaching me one by one. One day I heard voices evoking the accident, my name was among the list of passengers on that flight. The disbelief to be dead. Here there are no dead or alive, time is a dimension that no longer exists. Really more than fifty years have passed? Is there still anyone among those who are alive who remembers that day, the flames that came down from the sky and then rose high from the bottom of the valley? If I had died in my bed I would not have been so much popular. As well as my traveling companions, “the 70 immortal lives”. There is no pain here, so if you have to remember, do it with serenity. It had to go this way, it was written. It was only the clamor of the event that made us particular. Dying is as natural as growing, you know. My ashes are back to the cycle of life since a long time, you are not remembering a death only, but a rebirth. Thanks to you today I have a name and a surname again, a face, a story. I liked that you called us “the 70 immortal lives” and above all I am happy that the celebration of the disaster was not only a moment of rightful sadness and emotion by all the participants, but also an occasion for “alive” and actual solidarity.
Commemoration of June 26, 2011 - The students of Olgiate Olona, authors of the ten finalist works, opening the cortege to the memorial monument carrying the flags of the Countries of origin of the seventy immortal lives (photo Paola Piovesana)
Commemoration of June 26, 2011 - Chiara Segato winner of the Special award 2011
Special award 2011
Before the notification of the names of students authors of ten finalist works - mayor Giorgio Volpi authorized Alberto Colombo to give a special award in a personal capacity to the work Certo se l’avessi saputo! with the following motivation: «(the author) was able to analyze the value of memory and solidarity linked to the plane crash of June 26, 1959 not only with original approach - identifying himself with one of the seventy victims -, but also with good writing skills which articulated the thoughts, used the right words and even proposed synthetic and effective ‘cameos’ of meditation. I have been impressed by the originality and depth of this work, because I know how hard is to engage oneself in the tragedy of June 26, 1959, in terms of literary and psychological efforts ».
Determined thereafter that the work was the one of Chiara Segato, the mayor handed over to this student the special award: an elegant pen with the date of June 26, 2011 engraved on it and an auspicious message, so that the author grow her literary skills and receive happiness and satisfaction from life and profession.
Documents and articles related to the educational project 2010-2011
February 18, 2011 - Article published in La settimana
Giovani rapiti dal racconto sul disastro aereo del 1959
February 10, 2011 - Article published in La prealpina
February 9, 2011 - Article published in Il Giorno