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(see the picture
when he has been given the Honorary Citizenship)
Born in Colma di Rosignano Monferrato 72 years ago, Damaso Caprioglio
graduated in Medicine in 1958 in Turin; then, he specialized in
dentistry in Pavia (1960) and orthodontics in Cagliari in 1975.
He was also ordinary Assistant and a Professor of child dentistry in
Pavia (from 1960 to the '70ies) and orthodontics in Modena (in the
‘90ies), and became a professor in Cagliari and then in orthodontics
and gnatology in Parma, where he also played the role of Director of
courses in interceptive orthodontics and pre / postsurgery. He has
worked in various universities (Berlin, London, Boston, Zurich,
Geneva and Copenhagen), as winner of several scholarships and
prestigious awards (including the Oscar of success); he is a
professor of ethics in Parma and a merited professor of the
orthodontics of the Italian Association of Dentistry Teachers.
From '77 to date, he has occupied important roles: scientific
director of the Children Dental centre of Milan (considered one of
the most comprehensive dentistry, orthodontic and dental traumatology
hospital for children), president of the Italian Society of child
dentistry and dental traumatology and vice-president of the World
Society of dental traumatology.
 
Caprioglio's
house
- Ugo and Damaso Caprioglio
Damaso Caprioglio is also a
well-known medical scientific journalist: from 1990 to 2002, in fact,
he has been editor of the magazine of Italian and European infant
dental journal of paediatric dentistry, and he is director of the
Series of orthodontics (Editions Martina) and the dental traumatology.
Author of a dozen books specialised in orthodontics, dental
traumatology, child dentistry, disorders of the joints
temporo-mandibolari, agenesie, supernumerary teeth, prevention,
aesthetics, orthodontics and maxillo-facial surgery (some translated
into French and English), is co-author of Aesthetic in dentistry with
R. Goldstein and has signed more than 200 publications on major
scientific journals. Invited as speaker, he has attended numerous
national and international meetings and has organized and directed
numerous conferences in orthodontics, traumatology and child
dentistry, including the VII World Congress on trauma (Florence,
1996). He has passed his great professional passion to his children:
Alberto, Claudia and Maria Sole, all three specialists in the field
of dentistry.
Not forgetting his commitment to social problems (Damaso Caprioglio
has founded SOS Giovani, that works with Opera Don Calabria to offer
solidarity with young people in Italy and abroad, see
http://www.sosgiovani.it/missione.htm)
and his love for classical literature: Seneca, his favourite author,
is a source of inspiration and support in his daily life.
Damaso Caprioglio often returns to his home country, because of the
intense ties with his extended family, which he defines "patriarchal".
He has kept intact the friendship bonds of his childhood. When he
visits Colma, he attends the Sunday Mass in the chapel of St.
Bartholomew, the one that his grandparents defended against the heirs
of the ‘protomedico’ Cantamessa, donor of the Chapel to the ‘colmesi’,
who didn’t respect his will and testament.
The deep bond with his roots and his friends is shown by the memory
that he had of his friend Rino Fara, who recently passed away: a
brief but intense funeral speech that he read during the funeral. The
image given of his friend is also dedicated to many of his friends,
and we’d like to think it as a tribute to the efforts of so many
other ‘colmesi’ passed away like Rino: same anxieties, same efforts,
same exhaustion, same strength to rise again when destiny had knocked
them down to their knees.
Thank you Damaso for the affection towards your friends, the same
deep affection of your esteemed and unforgettable father, Ugo.
Rosignano - 12 May 2007
Damaso Caprioglio is
awarded of the
Honorary Citizenship of
Rosignano Monferrato
This is the letter by Damaso
Caprioglio, when he has been awarded
of the Honorary Citizenship of
Rosignano Monferrato:
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Damaso Caprioglio
Rosignano Monferrato, 11.05.2007
Proud of being ‘Monferrino’ and Citizen of Rosignano
Dear Mr. Mayor, Mrs. Deputy Mayor, Gentlemen of the City Council,
Mr. Parish Priest, Dear Friends, I do not hide my deep emotion in
receiving today the Honorary Citizenship of my native land.
Among the many awards and honours received, this represents the
most significant and it gives me the utmost joy and satisfaction.
I’m touched by the words of the Mayor and the City Council: they
are penetrated in the depths of my feelings. But I would like to
say that of all the praises, certainly excessive on my career and
on the contribution that modestly I’ve given to a branch of the
medicine, what I most liked and appreciated is the praise
received from my homeland, that I’ve always loved and respected.
This is the most rewarding part of the award that I’ve received
today.
If I could make a successful career, that has given me many
satisfactions, I owe it largely to Rosignano and Monferrato.
I owe it to my parents, uncles, grandparents and
great-grandparents and I want to include all the Rosignanesi of
that time, with their example: they have been able to inculcate
since the early age the respect for the family, for the people,
the visceral love for our land, the ability to hope for the lush
seasons and the grief for those poor of crop, the fruit of their
sweat, hard work and sacrifices.
To all my ancestors and childhood friends, who have left us
prematurely, I dedicate this award, and in particular to
Giuseppina Falaguerra, Domenico Caminada, Luigi Caprioglio and
Rino Fara.
The people of Rosignano have been able to teach me and appreciate
the love for work, for effort, for the sacrifices; they have
given me the values of honesty, sense of honour, loyalty, respect
of promises, the sacredness of friendship, hospitality, give
generously without seeking anything in return, helping each other
as members of one community or a big family; they taught me to
hope for a lucky event of a neighbour, share with him a difficult
or painful moment.
That is why I wanted to invite my childhood friends and even some
fellow conscripts in school; our friendship has grown and
increased in these long 70 years. Friends with whom we have
always been able to share joys and sorrows, succeeding stronger
and stronger.
Then, I owe a second thanks to two major cultural institutions:
the Collegio Salesiano San Carlo of Borgo San Martino and the
Liceo Classico C. Balbo of Casale.
They were able to forge not only my culture and my basic
education, but also to give me something priceless: love and
passion for the study and the search for truth and knowledge, for
the study of the classics and of Humanism, to grow, as the
supreme poet Dante says "In virtue and knowledge."
Joy and passion for the study that have easily permeated all my
life, in respect of those ethics principles earned in these two
great schools.
Ethics of Life and Culture: being always myself, with one
consistent faith, one single discipline, one single flag and one
single ideal.
Ethics, also in religion: the principles received from the
Salesians have helped me throughout my life, in hard times and
difficulties, both material and psychological, with two major
lessons: Prayer, that has helped me day after day and that I
consider to be the first medicine of the human being, and
Solidarity, that is being able to help not only the friend or the
relative, but each person, even unknown, in difficulty. From Don
Bosco I have learned that if you give one, then you get
multiplied by one hundred.
That is why I wanted to have some close friends who have followed
and helped me with these two great institutions: Don Dante,
himself already an honorary citizen of this wonderful land of
Rosignano, and Prof. Gianni Abbate and Dionigi Roggero, Professor
and Principal of the Liceo Classico of Casale, the same school
that in these days continues to donate his valuable contribution
to the town of Rosignano with the translation of the statutes of
the People Society of Rosignano.
The final thanks goes to the person who is most of all the
ambassador of Rosignano in the entire world, and who has left his
imperishable testimony of enchanting beauty, and poetry of our
place: the painter Angelo Morbelli.
Sharing the joy and emotion of his paintings, and comparing them
with the real landscape of Rosignano, we can cite the poet Seneca
"from a small corner of the world, you can touch Heaven”.
The great philosopher Norberto Bobbio (from Alessandria) rightly
says: "Only those who know their roots and regain or maintain
them, can truly feel safe and refreshed and their roots can be
found only where they were born and raised and especially in
small villages."
The emblem of Rosignano, three roses in the blue background,
reminds us, according to symbol heraldry, our values, that we
must preserve and owe: blue means devotion, fidelity, justice,
beauty, nobility and love of country, and red means love to God,
nobility, courage, boldness and generosity.
This is our strength, dear friends, have strong deep secular
roots that give us strength, courage, enthusiasm and joy; and we
want to renew them for the benefit and usefulness of our children
and grandchildren, because in young people is our continuity, as
Pope John Paul II said "Young people are the salt of the earth
and the sentinels of the down."
Let me conclude this speech by saying that I want to devote part
of my time and my willingness to young people of Rosignano,
through the municipality and its associations, to help them grow
in their own land, increasing their cultural roots.
With the wine, fruit of our lush vines, I would like to raise our
glasses to all of you Rosignanesi, who over many centuries have
defended, and many giving their lives, the freedom of our land,
with the hope that the Madonna dell'Assalto, continues to defend
all our families from attacks that life today puts on our ways
and to protect all of us and our beloved land.
Viva Rosignano, Viva Monferrato!!
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