Bologna, luminaries with Lucio Dalla's verses go up for auction to help cancer patients

Remember the luminaries in Bologna, the ones with the verses from the song L’anno che verrà by Lucio Dalla (Bologna, 1943 - Montreux, 2012), which all of Italy talked about during the last holiday season? Here, these luminaries will be auctioned off to help cancer patients. In fact, the merchants of Via d’Azeglio, in collaboration with Sotheby’s and Galleria d’Arte Maggiore, are organizing a charity dinner on July 2 in the centrally located Palazzo Re Enzo (made available by the Municipality of Bologna, which together with the Lucio Dalla Foundation has granted patronage to the initiative) during which the lights will be put up for sale: the proceeds will go to the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic Foundation for the project A Place that Cures, in support of the medical oncology of the Bologna Hospital.

The dinner will take place starting at 8 p.m., dishes will be prepared by cooks and caterers from the Tour-tlen association, who have made themselves available for free, and each course will be dedicated to a song by Lucio Dalla. To attend the dinner (all proceeds from which will go to the St. Ursula Foundation) is 100 euros per person with reservations required at astaluminarie@gmail.com (fees must be paid by bank transfer). A total of 350 places are available.

The Un luogo che cura project involves interventions to improve care and treatment in the Medical Oncology Department of the Bologna Polyclinic. The department, directed by Professor Andrea Ardizzoni, with its 33 beds is the largest in Emilia Romagna and treats 900 inpatients and 1,800 day service patients each year for cancer therapies (chemotherapy, immunotherapy, molecular-targeted therapies) and has 80 clinical trials underway. This development today requires infrastructural adjustments and is, at the same time, an important basis for taking further steps forward. The project will invest, on a multi-year basis, in all aspects that can create an ideal environment for care (infrastructure, support, and even the care itself, through research). The first step involves investment in equipment and reception, with the purchase of 20 electric beds and 20 state-of-the-art therapy chairs and the construction of a new waiting room for family members and patients who attend the fourth floor of Albertoni Pavilion every day to receive treatment. Support is then provided for applied research activities to find new ways of treatment, and for activities with which the patients’ journey is accompanied, from physiotherapy to the provision of specialized equipment to encourage movement and ensure in the most effective way prsonal autonomy, to psychological support also for family members and staff themselves.

“It is the heart of Bologna that takes the field with this initiative,” says Giacomo Faldella, president of the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic Foundation. “Together, thanks to the Foundation’s project, we want those battling cancer to have the greatest possible opportunity to heal, and for this journey to take place in a ward with a human and welcoming face, oriented toward wellbeing and relationships, investing in the quality of the spaces as well as all the supports that patients and family members may need, from the psychologist to the nutritionist.”

“The charity auction for Lucio’s luminaries,” says Bologna City Council Culture Councillor Matteo Lepore, “marks the grand finale of a beautiful operation to enhance and celebrate a talent of Bologna and I am sure it will be the beginning of a new adventure for these luminous words. It is a source of pride for us to collaborate in organizing an auction whose proceeds will go to the Sant’Orsola Foundation to carry out a very important project.”

Simone Dionisi, president of the Via d’Azeglio Consortium, says, “The decision to auction for charity the illuminations of Via D’Azeglio made in tribute to Lucio Dalla is the natural evolution of this project. From the heart of the city we want to continue to be there for the community, Bolognese and beyond, by donating the entire proceeds of the evening and the auction to the Sant’Orsola Foundation. A concrete gesture that, symbolically, will allow the luminaries to give new light.”

Carlo Alberto Borsarini, president of the Tour-tlen Association, which is a technical partner in the initiative, emphasizes that the association he chairs is “proud to participate actively in this project, which incorporates the ethical principles on which the Bologna chefs’ association is founded. This spirit, at once popular and refined-like Lucio’s music-allows our cuisine to dialogue with other arts and be part of the social fabric of the city.”

Finally, Romana Bernardoni, ad of EmilianAuto, main sponsor of the event, highlights that her company is also proud “to take part in this initiative that has Bologna at its heart and to offer its ocontribution to the realization of its important purpose. I am certain that the commitment and sensitivity of those who conceived it, to whom I would like to express sincere appreciation, will be met with equal sensitivity and generous participation.”

Bologna, luminaries with Lucio Dalla's verses go up for auction to help cancer patients

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