With the appointment on Sunday 25 February at 5 pm in the hall of the Gottarelli Foundation we want to commemorate the 17 years since the death of its founder, Tonino Gottarelli with a concert entitled "The colors and the music", performed by Tonino Zanelli (guitar) and Cavina Giustino (accordion).
Imola has a heart full of memories, Gottarelli was born in 1920 on a back alley in a where two bicycles crossed. He had a deep bond with the land of origin that is found in almost all his paintings and stories. Enough to go away from the city and walk along the streets leading to the hills around Imola that immediately it opens our eyes that wonderful world full of magic, life and habits reproduced on many canvases that moves the soul with their scenic dynamism. The creative world of Gottarelli is dense and full of recognizable elements precisely describing the beautiful scenery with the most beautiful poetic language. He loved to walk or bike to the hills of Imola to scrutinize the sensations of the places, the endless laws of nature transforming them in the inner strength to tell stories, turned into writing or painting, due to the approach of words or colors. His literary work or paintings open a large space over the infinite and leads us in an endless vacation or inside the madness of the reader or the viewer to see the harmonious game of the party. And then, his figurative art is nothing but a workshop and his literary art prints, a silent painting.
With the concert of Sunday, February 25th everyone will try to remember and to review his portrait as an artist or friend. The music takes on the character and the prestige of an imaginary soundtrack or if we want, a symbiosis of sound and color.

The event on Wednesday, March 13th at 9:00 PM, in the Gottarelli Foundation Hall, Via C. Sforza 13 in Imola, is titled: "Imola's Medals: Illustrious Figures from Imola" - conversation curated by Professor Fabrizia Fiumi.
With the volume by Romeo Galli dedicated to Imola citizens who lived between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we aim to illustrate an important period in the history of our city from a political, economic, and social perspective “Imola's Medals" is how the characters described in a series of articles from 1927 to 1944 by Romeo Galli, librarian and collaborator, can be defined. They are men and women (few), known and anonymous, who were characterized by their love for their city and who participated in the events that marked national history from the unification of Italy to the First World War. A concrete love translated into actions aimed at the public good, in legacies to cultural and social institutions, in daily assistance to the needy, but also in the typical ways of the Romagna people: the disdain for posing, the wit of nicknames, the originality.
The presentation will be accompanied by contemporary images taken from the albums of photographers Galassi and Tamburini.
Free admission

The event on Wednesday, April 10th at 9:00 PM, in the Gottarelli Foundation Hall, Via C. Sforza 13 in Imola, is titled: "Caring for Art: Beauty and Stories Unveiled through Restoration" - visual conversation curated by Dr. Marilena Gamberini.
Caring for art is a passion that requires study, research, and technical knowledge. One of the expressions of this care is RESTORATION, a privileged path to understanding the artwork. The concept of restoration has evolved significantly over the centuries, leading to today's definition, divided into specialized sectors (related to execution techniques) governed by precise rules and formal constraints. Each artwork undergoing restoration tells a unique and unrepeatable story: how it was created, what historical and conservation-related vicissitudes it has been tied to or had to endure.. Like an illness, the degradation of an artwork can only be best treated with intimate and respectful knowledge of the patient. By acquiring a series of information (technical, historical, artistic, etc.), the intervention project is defined, and the object's history is outlined, sometimes revealing surprising details during the process.
During this conversation on the aforementioned topic, some particularly interesting paintings, whose restoration has been supported by specific diagnostic analyses, will be examined. These analyses serve as valuable assistance for the restorer in the search for the "hidden beauty" of the artwork entrusted to their care.
Free admission

The event on Wednesday, May 15th at 9:00 PM, in the Fondazione Gottarelli Hall, Via C. Sforza 13 in Imola, is titled: "Rome and its kings: a story that all of us (do not) know..." - conversation hosted by lawyer Nicola De Vita.
"Il regno di Romolo" (The Kingdom of Romulus) is the second novel by Nicola De Vita (La mandragora, 2022).
A few moments after bidding farewell to Remus for the last time, Romulus immediately finds himself fragile and exhausted. He would like to rest, perhaps forget, but now "the furrow must be traced" and there is no turning back. On the first day, no one knows what will happen, least of all the "first king" who, in the thirty years of reign that will follow, will have to confront not only the fearsome Sabines but also, and above all, himself. The boy who became a man and, finally, a sovereign, will be constantly condemned to mediate between an overwhelming past that does not die and a dark and profoundly ambiguous dream destined to make him something he never wanted to be… "Il regno di Romolo" is not, however, a common historical novel, not only because it recounts a period difficult to reconstruct from a historiographical point of view, but also because it addresses, in a narrative key, a theme destined to haunt the history of humanity for decades after 753 B.C.: the relationship of the man of power with his integrity. If at the beginning of the narrated events Romulus is, in fact, a prudent and cautious boy, experience will gradually transform him into a despotic and paranoid tyrant: a sovereign obsessed with his own ghosts and constantly searching for a casus belli to hide his own shortcomings.
Brief description of the speaker
NICOLA DE VITAwas born in Castel San Pietro Terme, in the province of Bologna, in 1994. He graduated in law many years later and in the meantime discovered in Rome the pleasure of writing and the love for a city that he considers fully entitled to be called "the city of life". A voracious reader since the age of six, Nicola defines himself as an "unstoppable seeker of novelties" and not surprisingly, among the main activities he engages in are innovation, politics, art, history, and, of course, literature. For Mandragora, he has already published the novel “L’alba di sangue” (The Dawn of Blood) (2021).

With the concert Notes in the Park performed by Sara Zaccarelli (vocals) and Mecco Guidi (keyboards), the Gottarelli Foundation presents its last event, before the summer break, which will take place on Sunday, June 9, 2024, at 9:00 PM in the Verziere delle Monache Park, Via Caterina Sforza, 5 – Imola.
Sara Zaccarelli and Mecco Guidi is a duo composed of Sara's black and gritty voice and the unmistakable style of Mecco Guidi on keyboards.
Michele Guidi (stage name Mecco) is an Italian musician and composer, known in the world of music especially for his distinctive style with the Hammond organ. Throughout his life, inspired by his inexhaustible passion for music, he has explored an impressive variety of musical trends. Thanks to his extensive knowledge and exposure, he is able to transition from one genre to another with skill and ease. Soul in the right hand and groove in the left, he stands out for his ability to professionally perform anything, from classical to modern and everything in between, enriching the sounds each time with his personal taste and technique.
Sara Zaccarelli captivates with her beauty, voice, performance, sensuality, and her repertoire drawn mainly from 1950s and 1960s blues and rhythm and blues. A Bolognese singer with considerable potential: she is also a songwriter and has embarked on the path of modern NU-SOUL influenced by Erykah Badu, one of the leading artists of the so-called neo-soul movement who has earned the title of Queen of Neo-Soul. Her passion for black music has led her to meet some of the most important Italian exponents of this genre, such as drummer Vince Vallicelli and Hammond organist Pippo Guarnera. Collaborations that have brought her to the stages of various blues festivals including the Wine and Blues Festival in Cusercoli, the Popoli Blues Festival in Abruzzo, Blue Notes in Alatri, and many others. With the Groove City, a soul group from Bologna, in 2011 she sang at the Porretta Soul Festival alongside the famous Americans Sax Gordon and Toni Green.