INTERVIEWS AROUND MONTICHIARI Let's take a brief interview with our former pastor Monsignor Francesco Bertoni, who has been here for 27 years.
When he arrived here in Montichiari?
I arrived on 2/18/1984, the day when the then Prime Minister Craxi, signed in the Holy See in Rome the new Concordat.
How many people were in Montichiari on arrival?
When I arrived there were about 16,000 inhabitants and is living in a dimension that I would call "peasant". In the years following the arrival of immigrants will begin either from other parts of Italy that non-EU right up to about 24,000 today.
What are the 3 best things in Montichiari remember that there is no sight more?
A review of 27 years leads me to the comparison and establishment of:
1. time you communicate more easily and we knew almost everyone, it was easier to organize any activity but today I find great difficulty in communication because the size of the town led to know and also communicate less and less because of the arrival of many families monteclarensi or extra, in this sense I note also that the current situation is a bit of a Montichiari 'dormitory town;
2. typicality of Montichiari has softened and is oriented in one direction, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-linguist, this situation has occurred in the choice dell'ICFR (Christian Initiation of the Child and Young) where families are involved in the journey of faith, thus creating a network of relationships, so in those 6 years at least 800 families have been living new experiences, in fact, a couple may be included in a group, which is created in to the classes their children's elementary school, maybe you know where, initially, only 1-2 people, so this is the importance of being prepared to make friends and knowledge.
What were the biggest operations in the Parish during his reign?
E 'was renovated the rectory, the oratory of women (Sacred Heart), the Youth Center, built from scratch the parish center of Chiarini, of Marcolini, and San Filippo, has been restructured Gloria Cinema Theatre reopened in 1987 after several years of closure, was also more interventions, restored the Cathedral both internally and externally. In 1988, moreover, the parish missions and founded our parish radio station Radio Life that still sends daily frequency of 92.2 Mhz.
We interview Professor Gilioli Badilini who was mayor of our country over the last decades of the last century.
How long was mayor?
About 22 years. I was elected in 1977 and ended in 1999 when he refused to reapply for my voluntarily.
What were the major works done during his 22 years in office?
Many are mainly:
· The construction of the Center Fair, which opened on 30.3.84, which has allowed us to take a direction towards modernity because until then the cattle market was made in the actual "city". This blocked the town center every Friday and caused two other problems:
1. A large area in the center of the country that prevent urban growth;
2. hygiene problems due to the presence of animals;
· The construction of the first Town Hall which was located in the Sacred Heart Oratory;
· ; The construction of the Post Office, where he is now, because there was still the market
· ; The birth of the current "City", where now there are many offices and apartments, once there was a market, the displacement of which was really difficult, especially because the merchants had a negative impression on the transfer;
· The shift of the municipality and the post office has made available the previous buildings that have been allocated to initiatives cultural (art gallery and Lechi Pro Loco).
· The purchase of the old hospital with the aim to move the library;
· The construction of new homes mainly through numerous villages, "Marcolini;
· ; The construction of the drainage system and the strengthening of the aqueduct;
· The purchase by the Town of Castle Bonoris.
Let 's talk of history ...
Did you know that when I became mayor in Montichiari waste was disposed of in a wrong way because Borgosotto were burned in the churches under the bridge, where day and night the smoke rose to heaven, or else it was dumped in the springs Bredazzane Trivellini or abandoned, a kind of well where the water came almost to the surface.
The aqueducts were not there, or rather there was just an aqueduct, which was to serve the entire country, with a single pit in the woods, and the water was very little, especially on Fridays when there was the cattle market and had to wash the truck after the animals had fallen. They were then made as many as 12 additional wells in service throughout central and villages. This is also why it was necessary to ensure that all water that private drinking water wells, shallow, could not reach. She has also been made a sewer system, work quite cumbersome because of the pipe must be deep to ensure the proper flow. When I became mayor, there were just over 15,000 inhabitants, but Montichiari was different from all other cities and surrounding countries, because the center of the country was less populated of the villages, and in these rural areas were rural schools in some of which there was only one class in which, together, were all children from first to fifth. I decided to make schools more spacious with more classes. Some of the old rural schools are still recognizable in villages and have taken on other functions. Perhaps the most successful school is to Borgosotto that was built in a former barn, originally was against the people but the quality of the project was also confirmed by the international architectural award that has been assigned.
I focused a lot on building school and also worked on schools that were not as they are now, in fact there was only the first piece of the 60s, were small primary school, I completed the Moretto , accounting, and I thought even the smallest creating nurseries and pastures Marcolini.
A further argument is that the construction of sport that, in those years, first saw the birth of the sports hall to the exhibition venue, then the municipal swimming pools, gyms and in other towns and the villages and finally the PalaGeorge.
Regarding the roads, we must think that all traffic passed through the current Via Via Brescia and Mantova creating many hardships to the country and especially in long queues at the market and fairs. The construction of the bypass was the solution to this problem and it was then possible to proceed with construction of bicycle paths.
Finally, the only cemetery that first came to the chapel and that was in those years more than doubled.
What are the things he most regret?
· Well, the COMAZOO that I have authorized elsewhere because the place where you is ruin the landscape for those coming from Ghedi,
· IIP, the industrial area on the slope of the hill San Zeno would have been more appropriate to place it a bit 'further east, in the flat area is still free.
What would be the first thing I would do if tomorrow you had to go back in office?
balance the economic, and then find a solution with regard to brave the roads that, in recent years, because of increased domestic traffic and the construction of some of the one, has become complex.
