History and places
“A small and ancient world”
In the show 'Piccolo Mondo Antico, ovvero: maturi o già patocchi?' in 2012, the Fiorano theatre association Accademia della Stravaganza recreated a kind of 'amarcord' (meaning I remember) of the childhood games and pastimes of Fiorano, with an amusing film filmed along the road that descends from the Sanctuary and which was turned into the track for a wooden cart race for the occasion.
Video 'On wooden carts down from the Sanctuary', by Mauro Massimo Nocetti.
Gianni Franchini and the people of Fiorano
Gianni was born on 13 March 1950 in Modena and, after a childhood spent in psychiatric institutes, he arrived in Fiorano from San Giovanni Persiceto in 1977, a child in a man’s body
After the mental health institutions closed, he was housed by the Town Council, as part of a social reintegration project, up until his death in 2015. The whole community took part in the project.
Gianni, riding on his inseparable bike, was a friend to everyone: for the adults, he always had a smile or a short tune on his harmonica, for the children he dressed up as Father Christmas.
Fiorano decided to remember him with a mural on the wall of Palazzo Astoria, in piazzetta Angelo Vassallo, a tribute to Gianni Franchini by Collettivo FX.