26 August - Exhibition 'Andrea Testore and Francesco Balli. From the idea to the track: how the railway was born'.

Saturday 26 August at 17:00 in the Toceno Parish Hall

The opening of the documentary exhibition Andrea Testore and Francesco Balli is scheduled for Saturday 26 August at 5 p.m. in the Salone Parrocchiale di Toceno. From the idea to the track: how the railway was born, which will be open until 26 November.

The speeches by Giacomo Bonzani and Teresio Valsesia will tell the story of the birth of the Vigezzina-Centovalli and the figures of two of the creators of the project of a narrow gauge railway linking Domodossola to Switzerland: Andrea Testore, a fervent supporter of the construction of a railway in Valle Vigezzo, and the then Mayor of Locarno Francesco Balli. Anastatic reprint of the publication Preludio alla Ferrovia di Val Vigezzo, written by Andrea Testore in May 1905 and published in 1917, will be presented on this occasion: the short collection of essays was produced with the aim of sensitising authorities and financiers to the project of the cross-border railway.

On Wednesday 30 August at 9 p.m., in the exhibition venue, the maestro Roberto Bassa will be the protagonist of a piano concert with the emblematic title Trains and other devils... the transport revolution in the early twentieth century in the impressions of musicians and writers. The programme includes the march by the composer Paolo Borgnis dedicated to the Vigezzina-Centovalli Railway and Andrea Testore and the march Sempione by Angelo De Cecco, composed for the opening of the tunnel; the themed readings during the evening will be edited by Cinzia Barbieri.

Opening hours of the exhibition Andrea Testore and Francesco Balli. From the idea to the track: how the railway was born: until Sunday, September 10 every day from 10am to 12pm, on Saturdays also from 4pm to 6pm; from September 16th only on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 12pm. For info: premio.testore.martini@gmail.com