The major exhibition on Ferruccio F. Frisone, currently scheduled for Trani, has been presented in Bari

This morning (October 21) in Bari, at the Arena of the Department of Tourism, Economy of Culture, Territorial Valorization of the Puglia Region (Pavilion 107 of the Fiera del Levante), the great art exhibition "𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞 𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐝𝐢 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧. 𝐋'𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚 𝐝𝐢 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞'' during the internment in the Third Reich Lagers which will be inaugurated at the Trani Museum Centre (Palazzo Lodispoto, P.zza Duomo 8/9) next January 24, 2024 (𝐨𝐫𝐞 18.30) and will remain open to visitors until January 31st 2025. The exhibition, which brings to the public's attention the 113 drawings made by the artist during his internment in several prison camps established by the Nazi regime, is organized and set up by the SECA Foundation of Trani and the ETS Concentrationary Musical Literature Institute Foundation of Barletta.

The conference was attended by the Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Puglia Region 𝐀𝐥𝐝𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐨, the artist's son, 𝐆𝐢𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞, who arrived in Puglia from the USA especially for the exhibition together with his wife Deborah Smith, as well as two curators of the exhibition, 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐔𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨 (Director of the Museum Centre, Trani) and 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐨, president of the ILMC Foundation, an organization to which Giovanni Frisone recently donated his father's entire collection of drawings as well as his prison diary.

The exhibition, curated by 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐔𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐃𝐢 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐨 and 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐨, can be visited 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐥 31 March 2025 and will remain open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30 am to 1.00 pm and from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm (free entry; info: 0883582470; info@fondazioneilmc.it ; info@fondazioneseca.it ). 𝐋𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚-𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐢. 𝐈𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈𝐋𝐌𝐂 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢.

The exhibition is a tribute to one of the most fascinating artistic personalities of the twentieth century: the draftsman, painter, and sculptor Ferruccio Francesco Frisone, whose biographical and artistic story was intertwined with the drama of the Second World War and the internment experienced by 600,000 Italian soldiers in the Reich following the armistice of September 8, 1943. The exhibition features 113 drawings by Frisone on various media (from notebook paper to cardboard) using a variety of drawing techniques throughout his entire period in captivity, from his imprisonment in Albania to the four concentration camps in which he was interned: Semlin, Versen, and Fullen. This is the complete collection of drawings that Giovanni Frisone, the artist's son, donated, along with the precious diary written by his father while a prisoner, to the Institute of Musical Literature of the Concentration Camps (ETS), based in Barletta. This foundation is dedicated to the rediscovery, preservation, and dissemination of music written in concentration and civilian and military prison camps from 1933 (the opening of KL Dachau) to 1953 (the death of Joseph Stalin). The Ferruccio Francesco Frisone Collection is a priceless artistic treasure and has now officially become part of the art collections of the ILMC Foundation and the cultural heritage of the Puglia Region. The event offers a glimpse into one of the darkest moments of World War II, which saw Italian soldiers who opposed Nazism as protagonists and victims. At the same time, it aims to highlight how art served as a tool of resistance against the physical and moral annihilation inflicted by totalitarian regimes through internment and deportation.

Throughout its duration, the exhibition will be complemented by seminars on the phenomenology of Italian military internment (the first event scheduled for November 15th in Trani with the writer Mario Avagliano), musical events, and insights into the theme of internment following September 8th, 1943. To crown the event, on the opening day, Poste Italiane will use its own mobile station at the Trani Museum Center to issue a postcard and postmark dedicated to Ferruccio Francesco Frisone .

"The project for this exhibition ," states 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐨, president of the ILMC Foundation, " represents for the ILMC Foundation the concrete expression of the progressive broadening of its research horizons from music to other forms of artistic creativity that found expression in those tragic places: the concentration camps. We cannot know how vast the work of recovering these testimonies will be, but we must pursue it for ourselves and for future generations, for a more beautiful history of humanity; because, as the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel wrote, hope is the memory of the future."

"We welcomed with great pleasure ," declared Cav. 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐨, Secretary General of the SECA Foundation, " the ILMC Foundation's proposal to share the organization, at Palazzo Lodispoto, of an exhibition dedicated to the artist Ferruccio Francesco Frisone. This event will represent a unique opportunity for everyone to admire the works of the painter and illustrator, which will recount one of the most dramatic pages of the last war period through an anthology of drawings that hark back to one of the most painful moments in history and which, in their analysis, arouse great emotion. Today more than ever, through these works, we must question ourselves by delving into our consciences on those moments that, just as they captured the eyes and carved the heart of Ferruccio Francesco Frisone, must reach our hearts and remain in our minds. For this event of great historical importance, the choice The choice of location could only fall on Palazzo Lodispoto, home of the SECA Foundation and a hub of art and culture par excellence in our area.”

"The Frisone family's generous willingness to share their family heritage, with the donation of the works and diaries of Ferruccio Francesco Frisone - interned in German concentration camps in 1944 - to the Fondazione Istituto Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria del Maestro Francesco Lotoro, moves and honors us, as well as making public institutions even more responsible in the dutiful and never sufficient work of preserving and transmitting Memory, " declared the Director of the Department of Tourism, Cultural Economy, and Territorial Development of the Puglia Region, 𝐀𝐥𝐝𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐨, during the press conference. " We are truly happy that Puglia, with the Trani Museum Center, has planned this important exhibition at Palazzo Lodispoto of the drawings and works created by Ferruccio Francesco Frisone, as a testimony to the suffering that even the Italian soldiers had to endure, after The armistice of September 8th, they chose a side, without bowing to Nazi-Fascist abuse. A suffering into which only Art and Culture have managed to shed a ray of light, reaching us, fortunately, and thanks to the immeasurable work of great men like Francesco Lotoro, to warn us of the darkness that constantly recurs in the ebb and flow of history and with which we must reckon, without ever turning our gaze and our consciences away.”

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞

Born in Malnate (Varese) on February 19, 1909, he trained as a draftsman and painter during the interwar years, attending the Brera Academy and Futurist circles in Milan. From the early 1930s, he worked for the Vitagliano publishing house as a layout artist, draftsman, and illustrator. Called up for military service in 1942 and assigned to a garrison unit stationed in Albania, he was forced to undergo numerous hospitalizations due to back problems. Captured by German troops at Military Hospital 426 in Tirana after the armistice of September 8, 1943, he was interned in Semlin, Versen, and Fullen. After his imprisonment and liberation, he resumed work at Vitagliano. After its closure in 1964, he was able to devote himself more continuously to painting. On April 24, 1972, his first solo exhibition of his prison drawings was held in the prestigious Palazzo dell'Arengario in Milan's Piazza del Duomo. Sponsored by the Department of Cultural Initiatives and Tourism of the City of Milan, it was titled "From Albania to Lager VI/C." In December of the same year, he received the Ambrogino d'Oro (the highest honor awarded by the City of Milan to its citizens) for his work as a painter and illustrator. He died in Milan on December 26, 1973. After his death, his diary was found by his son Giovanni. This diary, along with his drawings, was exhibited for the first time in Germany at the Documentation and Information Center (DIZ) Emslandlager in Papenburg. Since November 1, 2012, several drawings from the concentration camp, excerpts from his diary, a short biography, and a photograph have been displayed in display cases at the Esterwegen Memorial, testifying to the experience of Italian military internees during World War II. In 2015, the full version of his diary, titled Binario Morto, was published, with historical annotations by the Piedmont Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Society.