298
On November 1921, polemical article in the widespread weekly journal La
giustizia, entitled “What can we do for Secchi Monument?”, still argued for donating the funds to the solar tower in Arcetri (G.A.A. 1921):
The centenary of Secchi’s birth […] has passed almost unnoticed and the worthy men in the
Committee – which is appropriately called ‘permanent’– look as if they serenely want to
wait until the centenary year from Secchi’s death, namely 1978. All this appears to be scandalous. (…) Evidently, they are in no hurry to decide and then disband.
Probably under the impetus of another long article, “Is the Scientific Monument to
Angelo Secchi an urgent duty?”, published in January 1925 in the monthly magazine La Provincia di Reggio (Reina 1925), the Committee finally appeared to
approve building in Reggio not a solar tower, but “the first popular astronomical
observatory with exhibits of astrophysical subjects and with some of Secchi’s
instruments, original drawings, and manuscripts,” according to what had been proposed by Antonio Abetti in a city conference. There was also an illustration of the
proposal by the architect Achille Grimaldi for the restoration of the Palace of
Museums and Fine Arts, which beautifully displayed a large dome for the
Meteorological Observatory (Fig. 17.5).
A few months later, the Committee’s president Igino Bacchi presented the details
of the financial situation, concluding that:
43
43 I. Bacchi to Committee, Reggio Emilia Apr 14, 1925 (ASRe-MS).
Fig. 17.5 Project by architect Achille Grimaldi showing a large dome for the Meteorological
Observatory on the Palace of Museums and Fine Arts in Reggio Emilia. (Courtesy: Istituto
d’istruzione superiore “Angelo Secchi,” Reggio Emilia)
F. Bònoli and A. Mandrino
On November 1921, polemical article in the widespread weekly journal La
giustizia, entitled “What can we do for Secchi Monument?”, still argued for donating the funds to the solar tower in Arcetri (G.A.A. 1921):
The centenary of Secchi’s birth […] has passed almost unnoticed and the worthy men in the
Committee – which is appropriately called ‘permanent’– look as if they serenely want to
wait until the centenary year from Secchi’s death, namely 1978. All this appears to be scandalous. (…) Evidently, they are in no hurry to decide and then disband.
Probably under the impetus of another long article, “Is the Scientific Monument to
Angelo Secchi an urgent duty?”, published in January 1925 in the monthly magazine La Provincia di Reggio (Reina 1925), the Committee finally appeared to
approve building in Reggio not a solar tower, but “the first popular astronomical
observatory with exhibits of astrophysical subjects and with some of Secchi’s
instruments, original drawings, and manuscripts,” according to what had been proposed by Antonio Abetti in a city conference. There was also an illustration of the
proposal by the architect Achille Grimaldi for the restoration of the Palace of
Museums and Fine Arts, which beautifully displayed a large dome for the
Meteorological Observatory (Fig. 17.5).
A few months later, the Committee’s president Igino Bacchi presented the details
of the financial situation, concluding that:
43
43 I. Bacchi to Committee, Reggio Emilia Apr 14, 1925 (ASRe-MS).
Fig. 17.5 Project by architect Achille Grimaldi showing a large dome for the Meteorological
Observatory on the Palace of Museums and Fine Arts in Reggio Emilia. (Courtesy: Istituto
d’istruzione superiore “Angelo Secchi,” Reggio Emilia)
F. Bònoli and A. Mandrino