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Rolando and Ada Carando Morbelli |
ROLANDO MORBELLI and ADA CARANDO MORBELLI
(biographies by the son Roberto)
Rolando Morbelli
was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 3 February 1914, son of
Alfredo Morbelli, first son to Angelo - he opened one of the first
Pirelli dealers, and
Blanche Galiane,
a French woman from
Juillan
(a nice small town near Lourdes).
The mother died in a hunting accident when Rolandito… Lolito…
Loli was only 2
years old
(5th december 1916).
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Rolando "Loli" Morbelli |
His father Alfredo married again with Cornelia Marconi, and returned
to Italy in 1919, then Maria Victoria was born.
The young Loli spent his youth between Varese, where his father had
opened a photography shop and Colma Rosignano. He attended the ‘Liceo
Classico’ and was employed at RACI (Reale
Automobil Club).
With the outbreak of the second World War, he was asked to choose
between Argentinian and Italian citizenship; he then had to go to the
war front.
He choose to leave as an artillery sergeant, commander of the cannon
transport team, until 8 September when, in Marseilles, remained the
only graduated in his Battalion, he dismantled his pistol and threw
it into the water; he went back to Varese, where he was hospitalised
in the Sanatorium, to escape the recruitment by Salò, not really for
health reasons.
He started working and specialising in metal alloys at Franco Tosi of
Legnano, then at Metallock, a branch that machines only aluminium,
bronze and cast iron alloys. |
After a
few years of honest dedication to his job, he was moved to a clerk
managing position.
During his summers spent in Colma, he met his future wife, Ada
Carando who was Giulia Mellana’s nephew, and was often guest in his
castle - house in Rosignano.
Ada Carando was born in Imperia (then Oneglia) on 24 April 1917,
daughter of Roberto Carando (Major of Carabinieri - died in 1948 when
he was General of a division) and Alessandra Rabizzani (Rina), the
last of three children, Elena and Mario.
Loli and Ada
The father’s continuous moving all around Italy lead her to Bari (7
years) and Padua (16 years).
She received a very strict education and spent her childhood in the
Carabinieri stations, while meeting the high society, as the royal
House of Savoia.
During the war, in Padua, she was a nurse and worked side by side to
his brother (doctor) to save a partisan. She was awarded the silver
medal of the Resistance, but she refuses it, because for her every
human life has no political colour.
In summer she visited her aunt Julia in Rosignano, her father’s and
uncle Gigi Mellana’s sister, and her cousins Flora and Georgio.
In Valle Ghenza she met Loli together with all the friends. Their
love was deep, and they married in 1948 in the Chapel of Scrovegni in
Padua.
They moved to Busto Arsizio in a furnished room with a bathroom
shared with three other families, on the balcony (typical of old
Lombard houses).
Loli and Ada in Villa
Maria
In June 1951, on expressed request of her grandparents, Alfredo and
Nelia, Ada went to give birth to myself in Colma di Rosignano
followed by the loving care of all and in particular the "… second
Mamma…" of many of us, Lide Volta the municipal midwife, with the
help of Dr. Berrone of Terruggia.
Meanwhile, Loli found a house to rent in Casorate Sempione and here,
the young and smart Bruno Valeggia brought the mother and son at the
end of October.
In the 60ies, Luciano Filiberti, owner of Argo (stoves and cast iron
radiators) calls "the Sciur Morbelli" as sales manager.
Loli was the only grandchildren of the painter who reassessed the
figure of his grandfather, not for the commercial value of his
paintings, but for the cultural and historical significance that
became clear after the exhibition of 1982 held in Alessandria.
Thanks to the sincere friendship with Camillo Cappellaro, Antonio
Barbato and Pier Luigi Muggiati, he receives the reordered library
together with the catalogue of the painter’s correspondence. Camillo
Cappellaro became, with my father, the cultural depositary of the
painter Morbelli.
Retired in 1970, he wanted to keep Villa Maria, the shares of which
he had purchased from his sister Maria Vittoria and his cousin Lino.
The garden is now (except for natural growth) the same of the
Painter’s.
One day, I remember he said to me "… You know, they dedicated a
museum to Segantini in St. Moritz…. I would like to do the same for
your great-grandfather… ".
The Exhibition organised by Loli Morbelli, in collaboration with the
Mayor of Alessandria, Mr. Barrera was held in May 1982; this would be
the dawn of revaluation of divisionism and Angelo Morbelli.
An exhibition that Loli, together with his first grandson Alessandro,
will not see. He died for cerebral haemorrhage on January 22, 1982 at
the age of 67.
But my father’s work was continued by my mother Ada: supported by her
great love for Colma, she committed to open the gates of Villa Maria
and to exhibit the family paintings to the public at the Civic Museum
of Casale.
the son Roberto
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On the day of my father's funeral, a good friend invited me to
move to a small flat in front of my house in Casale: "...
Mamma… aren’t you scared of living alone at Colma ???...." "My
son……, when I was young I danced with the Duke of Aosta… I saw
heads cut off by the bombing of Padua… I married your father
and lived in a single furnished room sharing the bathroom with
a security guard… your father became a manager and invested all
its retirement pay in the house of Colma, that I love … what
should I be scared of ? "
Ada Carando Morbelli, in addition to its known skills in
restoration, was also a writer.
Don Paolo Busto got the exclusivity of her "Postcards" of
Monferrato and Colma on his magazine La Vita Casalese (she
signed Ada Carando Morbelli from Colma di Rosignano).
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Some of her considerations on life became mine, such s "… life is a
ladder ... With many landings; when you achieve one, do not turn
back, but settle and enjoy what you have found ... And pray that God
gives you the strength to face another flight of stairs and reach
another landing… ".
My mother Ada died with a smile on her lips on 27 September 2000,
aged 83 for the recidivism of cancer for which she had already
undergone surgery in 1970.
ADA CARANDO MORBELLI
(Memory by Anita Rosso)
I
have known a few people with the positive attitude of Ada. I don’t
remember her upset or angry on a single occasion. She had the
enviable ability to constantly find the positive side of things. When
we were young, in summer afternoons spent in the garden of Villa
Maria, she often joined us to tell us some funny anecdote, as when
she said: "If I become a grandmother, I hope that my grandchildren do
not learn French … you know,if they call me Gran mère Ada, it could
sound like Gran merdada (big shit)".
When she remained alone in the silence of Villa Maria, she always
knew how to find great motivation, by restoring furniture and taking
care of the garden. She also wrote articles for La Vita Casalese, a
kind of reportage from Colma. But she wrote about everything, not
just our small hamlet, that she loved. I found some of her articles
(cut and kept with love by Ernestina Ramezzana), and I included them
in this section. Who has the curiosity to read them, can not help but
noticing her love for her house, her garden and also the people of
Colma.
She had not even surrendered to cancer. I will never forget that in
August 2000 I was coming back from Casale. At the gate of Villa Maria
I saw Marco frightened and crying. He explained that his father,
Roberto, had fallen to the ground and was unconscious. As soon as I
saw him lying on the ground, in anaphylactic chock, I understood that
the situation was serious and I called immediately Luisella by phone.
She arrived with Carlo, both anesthesiologists, before the ambulance
arrival. Luisella and Carlo explained that if Ada had not made a
cortisone injection to Roberto before their arrival, probably they
would not be able to save him. Ada, suffering for the recidivism of
the terrible disease, was sitting next to her son, silently. I am
sure that at that time, she asked God to swap her life with that of
her son. One month after, Ada left us.
La Vita Casalese - Article written
by Ada Carando Morbelli
La Vita Casalese - 2th june 1988 -
by Ada Carando Morbelli
La Vita Casalese - Article written
by Ada Carando Morbelli
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