Historic musical instrument donated to the ILMC Foundation

In the pictures: Maestro Lotoro with the Longarato family, the banjo-mandolin, the vice-president Grazia Tiritiello, some photos of Vittorio Longarato and the Zonderwater field, some moments of the concert held in Gambellara (VI)

In recent days, the ILMC Foundation Archives have been enriched with a new and important historical document related to music in the camps: a musical instrument, the banjo-mandolin built by the Italian soldier Vittorio Longarato in Zonderwater (South Africa) , the largest military prisoner of war camp built by the Allies during World War II, where between April 1941 and January 1947 over 100,000 Italian soldiers captured by British troops on the fronts of East Africa, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Italian-occupied Libya were held. The instrument was donated by the Longarato family, who appreciated the ILMC Foundation's significant commitment to concentration camp music.

Elisa Longarato , Vittorio's daughter and the Italian representative of the Zonderwater Block ex-POW Association, which is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Italian prisoners of war in the South African camp, stated: "A select rifleman in the Ariete Division in North Africa, my father arrived at the camp still weakened by war wounds. He walked with crutches, and for the first two years in the tent city he slept on the floor on a straw mattress, suffering from hunger. He never liked to talk about the war, much less about his imprisonment. He only told us that he had been in Durban, then in Pretoria, so I began my research. Sometimes he met with some former comrades in arms. During those meetings, my father would pick up the banjo-mandolin he had built in Zonderwater with his own hands and accompany them with songs that recalled the years of their youth. It is with this memory that we, Vittorio's children, donate our father's musical instrument to the ILMC Foundation, imagining the sound of the banjo-mandolin spreading through the barracks of that immense camp. South African”.

The award ceremony took place on May 24th in Gambellara (Vicenza) during a concert in homage to Vittorio Longarato ; the event saw the participation of a group of musicians from Puglia—including Maestro Francesco Lotoro himself, Maestro Paolo Candido (conductor), Maestro Fabrizio Signorile (first violin), tenor Nico Sette , and baritone Angelo De Leonrdis —who performed music written by composers who had experienced war imprisonment.

"The concert dedicated to Bersagliere Vittorio Longarato has deeply touched us for a long time; we have meticulously prepared it down to the last detail to bring the best of music from Barletta to Gambellara, " stated Francesco Lotoro . " The story of this great man, musician, valiant Bersagliere, and builder of a magnificent banjo-mandolin in Zonderwater, spurs us to perpetuate this memory, transforming it into literature and universal artistic heritage. A lifetime will not be enough to thank the Longarato family for the trust they have placed in us, like a testament. We will treasure this precious legacy, in the name of Longarato and of a great chapter in history: that of the Italian prisoners of war at Zonderwater."