Aldo Bassetti presents an evening in Brera, 2012 (photograph from the weekly magazine ‘Oggi’, If Brera was always like this).
Aldo Bassetti’s initiative and energy in the field of art as well, with his long commitment as President of the Amici di Brera – 13 years in which he managed to achieve notable results – and then as Honorary President until his death in 2021, is perhaps one of the things that is most noticeable about him when writing not only about the projects, some of them very important, that he initiated, but also about his many popular initiatives, from film screenings and documentaries to the organisation of very popular evenings of culture, music and pleasant atmospheres.
Again, the memory left on the occasion of his passing by those who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him leaves us with a full and complete portrait of a man who loved many things and excelled in them, not least his passion for art and for anything that could have brought it closer to as many people as possible. It was part of his life one can say at all times, having among other things married my mother, Giorgina Venosta, who was an art expert by profession, on her second marriage:
“Engineer Aldo Bassetti, president of the Associazione Amici di Brera from 2007 to 2020, left a deep memory in those who knew him, both for his impetuous and generous person and, in particular, for the many activities he carried out in favour of the institutions in Braid. During his tenure and thanks to his support, many important projects were completed, from the lighting of the Sale Napoleoniche to the restoration of Canova’s Napoleon, from the creation of the gate to the Botanical Garden to the donation to Brera of Mario Mafai’s ‘Fantasie’, Bassetti’s vibrant warning against the madness of fascism, which had so poisoned his youth. A place in Braidense that Aldo Bassetti particularly loved was the Sala della Passione, in the Cortile d’Onore of Brera. Very close to the Association’s headquarters, this room was the scene of all the most important meetings promoted by the Friends and its president, who wanted to equip it with audio-visual equipment, so that – along with numerous conventions, meetings, cycles of lectures and book presentations – the public could also be offered the projection of films and documentaries dedicated to art. And such was the engineer’s bond with this hall that Brera director James Bradburne (in agreement with his family and the president of the Amici Carlo Orsi) wished to celebrate Bassetti’s secular funeral here on 13 December 2022. And now, about a year after his death, James Bradburne and Carlo Orsi have agreed to name the Passion Room after him, which from today will be called SALA ALDO BASSETTI, in perpetual memory of a man who did so much for the promotion of Brera and the civil progress of the city of Milan.” (AMICI DI BRERA, Facebook post 11 October 2023).
Bibliography:
M. MORO, Se Brera fosse sempre così, in ‘Oggi’, 24 October 2012(https://www.oggi.it/blog-arte/2012/10/24/se-brera-fosse-sempre-cosi/ ).
AMICI DI BRERA, Facebook post with an invitation to name the Passion Room in the Brera Courtyard after Aldo Bassetti, 11 October 2023(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=712464010913597&set=pb.100064500137701.-2207520000&type=3&locale=it_IT ).
FONDAZIONE Guido Venosta, “Gli Amici di Brera” in Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica – Milan 16 January 2019(https://www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org/gli-amici-di-brera-sul-corriere-della-sera-e-la-repubblica-milano-16-gennaio-2019/ ).
G. CAPROTTI, “Gli Amici di Brera” in Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica – Milan 16 January 2019(https://www.giuseppecaprotti.it/gli-amici-brera-sul-corriere-della-sera-la-repubblica-milano-16-gennaio-2019/ ).
