The teacher of a generation Diego Valeri at the Liceo Manin in Cremona

Abstract

This essay reconstructs the principal features of Diego Valeri’s tenure at the Liceo Manin in Cremona, where he was a teacher of Italian, Latin and Art History between 1922 and 1925. Remembered as “an incomparable teacher not only for the fine culture, but also for the particularity of the teaching method, all intended to arouse in the learners the unspeakable joy of discovering themselves in the literary and artistic production of others” (Gualazzini, 1989), the presence of the Venetian poet (Piove di Sacco, 1887 – Rome, 1976), although very brief, was in fact one of the most celebrated events in the school history of Cremona. Drawing on a recent line of re-search dedicated to school memories, this contribution reviews the testimonies of pupils Anna Dora Groppali (1904-1974), Ugo Gualazzini (1905-1995) and Alfredo Puerari (1907-1988), which are indicative of a genre, and expressions of a particular way of understanding knowledge, which still remains largely to be investigated.