The Origins
The Fogazzaro family came from Contrà Fugazzari: from a small mountain hamlet above Schio, in the Pasubio valleys. They took their name from this district - also known as Pian delle Fugazze - whose name, Fugazzari, derives from the word for the fires – fuoco, (in local dialect: “fogazzo”) - which were lit as beacons in the mountain passes.
In the 1700s, Giovanni Antonio Fogazzaro, great-great-grandfather of the writer Antonio, moved to Schio. At the start of the 1800s, the entire family, with Mariano Abramo, son of Giovanni Antonio, moved to Padua. Mariano became wealthy in the wool trade and chose to divide his fortune between his two sons: Giuseppe Francesco Maria, and Giovanni Antonio, and so the Fogazzaro family history now followed two paths: the Fogazzaros of Padua, and the Fogazzaros of Vicenza. It was into the Vicenza branch of the family that the writer Antonio Fogazzaro was born. This is illustrated by the family tree on the first information panel to the right of the exhibition, on entering the first room.
With the family fortune divided, Giuseppe Francesco Maria Fogazzaro inherited the Longara estate and a large sum of money which he used, in 1824, to buy the property of Lovolo, in Rovolon, in the Euganei foothills (Padua). Giovanni Antonio, on the other hand, got the Vicenza estate in Contrà Carpagnon, as well as another substantial sum of money he used to buy, and move into, a property of approximately 380 fields, with houses and a villa in Montegalda, from the Caldogno family.
On the 8th of December 1837, Mariano Fogazzaro, one of Giovanni Antonio’s sons, married Teresa Barrera, from Oria in Valsolda (Como) and they moved into the bride’s home in Via dei Carmini - now Corso Fogazzaro. Mariano and Teresa would have three children: Carlo, who died aged four; Antonio (1842-1911), the writer, and Innocentina.
Some family members were particularly important to the writer: there was his uncle Don Giuseppe, a professor at the diocesan seminary, a reformist, and friend of Antonio Rosmini, and uncle Luigi, who was heavily involved in politics, becoming the first mayor of Montegalda. These people are shown in the images on the wall.
Just after the unification of Italy, Antonio Fogazzaro married Margherita Valmarana on 31st July 1866 in Vicenza. They had three children: Teresa (“Gina”), Mariano, and Giuseppina Maria.
On panels 2 and 3, just beneath the pictures, you can see original letters, documents and wedding books written by Antonio Fogazzaro, with photos and two first editions of the book “Piccolo Mondo Antico” (“The Little World of the Past”), one autographed by the author, the other with a special dedication to his daughter Maria.
The lower sections of these same panels display some posters from the community of Montegalda’s archives, signed by the mayor Luigi Fogazzaro, the writer’s uncle. Panel 5 displays preserved documents that record the donation by Fogazzaro to the community of Montegalda for land to build the town’s ice-house on the San Marco hill (1897), as well as an extremely rare book by Sebastiano Rumor, “Don Giuseppe Fogazzaro - His life and times” (Vicenza, 1902). Also on display are some images and moments from the life of the writer and his old relatives in the villa of Montegalda.
