Visitando l’Expo di Milano – che si avvia ormai alla chiusura – ho ricordato un particolare precedente storico che pare dimenticato. A Napoli nel maggio del 1900 fu inaugurata l’Esposizione nazionale d’Igiene, una grande manifestazione – incentrata sul problema principale di Napoli negli ultimi cinquant’anni del XIX secolo – realizzata nell’allora Villa Reale, oggi Comunale, con la costruzione di sette padiglioni principali, anche di grandi dimensioni e di molti chioschi per offrire al pubblico una serie di informazioni su vari prodotti alimentari, con degustazioni di alimenti e bevande.
Allora il problema dell’igiene in Italia e in Europa, oggi quello dell’alimentazione nel mondo. L’iniziativa era stata promossa dal Comitato della Lega contro la tubercolosi che aveva organizzato il suo congresso al Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, il 25 aprile dello stesso anno.
Le acquisizioni scientifiche avevano fornito adeguate conoscenze del rapporto di causalità tra le condizioni abitative antigieniche e la tubercolosi, ma anche quello – insieme con il sistema di approvvigionamento dell’acqua dai pozzi (qualcuno ricorda la leggenda del “munaciello” ?) – del rapporto con le ricorrenti epidemie di colera in tutto l’ottocento, contro le quali i provvedimenti adottati dai governi europei erano stati ed erano ancora pochi e inefficaci.
Le due epidemie di fine Ottocento avevano colpito in modo particolare Napoli, dove si era registrato un notevole aumento demografico che aveva aggravato le condizioni di vita dei cittadini, soprattutto nei quartieri Mercato, Pendino, Vicaria e Stella, dove le condizioni igieniche dei “bassi” erano molto precarie.
Il 15 gennaio 1885 era stata emanata la legge per il Risanamento della città di Napoli, che segnava una svolta nella politica governativa: essa, infatti, imponeva norme igienico- sanitarie pubbliche e private che gli allora “Municipi” dovevano osservare e far osservare a tutti i cittadini; destinava, poi, cospicui finanziamenti ad opere pubbliche essenziali: più adeguati sistemi di approvvigionamento dell’acqua potabile (con la chiusura dei pozzi) e di smaltimento nelle fogne, la demolizione di gran parte dei “quartieri bassi” costituiti da veri e propri tuguri, e l’edificazione di nuovi quartieri destinati a colmare il deficit abitativo che si sarebbe determinato.
Le realizzazioni più appariscenti della Società per il Risanamento furono un lungo corso, il Rettifilo, poi intitolato a Umberto I e due piazze – dedicate a Giovanni Bovio e a Nicola Amore – frutto di quello “sventramento” che Matilde Serao, con il suo riferimento drammatico ed angosciato al “ventre di Napoli”, aveva preconizzato e in qualche modo sollecitato.
In questo clima, fu immaginata l’Esposizione nazionale d’Igiene per la quale, a gennaio del 1900, furono individuate “ventisei classi”, cioè ripartizioni metodologiche di realizzazione.
Su un quotidiano dell’11 gennaio 1900, si legge: “La risposta a chi chiede che cosa si può esporre è semplice e si compendia in una sola parola: tutto. L’igiene intesa come il cardine intorno a cui gravitano tutti gli interessi morali, economici, industriali e politici, non si restringe al campo prettamente scientifico, ma ha confini molto più vasti”.
Una recente, interessante pubblicazione dell’architetto Nunzia Iannone (“Architettura dei Congressi e delle Esposizioni a Napoli 1861-1934 nella stampa periodica e nella fotografia”) fornisce dettagliati e minuziosi elementi: il 9 maggio 1900, il re Umberto I e la regina Margherita inaugurarono la manifestazione, con straordinaria partecipazione di popolo, imponente schieramento di truppe, da piazza Plebiscito all’allora discesa del Gigante, e di navi da guerra nella rada di Santa Lucia. Il sindaco Summonte pronunciò il discorso di apertura: “Napoli si presenta all’Esposizione come una città degna di studio per le migliorate condizioni sanitarie, anche per il suo programma igienico-edilizio, alla cui completa esplicazione non mancheranno l’energia del volere e il sacrificio dei mezzi più adatti per raggiungerli”. Ad esso seguì il presidente dell’Esposizione, senatore de Renzi: “La storia di questi ultimi anni, decorrenti dalla morìa dell’84 fin’oggi, dimostra che Napoli a torto è rappresentata dalla fantasia popolare sotto forma di vaghissima sirena addormentata al dolce sussurro delle onde tirrene. Della sirena conserva ancora la sovrumana antica bellezza, ma il sonno è scomparso sotto le incalzanti energie della città moderna”. Al di là dell’ovvia retorica, entrambi, dunque, esaltarono la volontà di ripresa del popolo napoletano e il grande interesse per le innovazioni nella prospettiva del nuovo secolo.
Gli ingressi alla Esposizione erano quattro: la Porta d’Onore, progettata da Giovan Battista Comencini, nei pressi del monumento a Vico e della Cassa Armonica, (16 colonne che sorreggevano una cupola alta 24 metri, sormontata da un faro dal quale veniva proiettato un fascio di luce che raggiungeva piazza Vittoria); l’Ingresso di gala che dava sull’attuale Rotonda Diaz, l’Ingresso occidentale sul lato opposto; l’Ingresso nord sulla Riviera di Chiaia, a Santa Maria in Portico.
Furono realizzati 54 tra padiglioni e chioschi, poi demoliti – a eccezione di quello, preesistente, degli “Asili infantili di Napoli”, nel quale oggi è sistemato il busto di Virgilio, e di quello del Municipio di Napoli poi diventato, nel 1905, sede del Lawn-Tennis Club (l’attuale Circolo del Tennis ricostruito nel 1949 su progetto di Luigi Cosenza).
Quaranta i chioschi di imprese italiane e straniere per la degustazione di prodotti alimentari, bevande e acque minerali (Ferro China Bisleri, Birreria Bavaria, Acque minerali Monticchio, Claudia e Fiuggi, pastiglie Panerai, liquori Alberti & Peluso, e inoltre S. Gobain, G. Goudsstikker & Fils, Ville de Lyon, Splendid Salon) tutte pubblicizzate con belle cartoline-ricordo pubblicitarie in stile liberty, che ebbero grande diffusione.
L’Auditorium era la struttura principale, ospitò la cerimonia dell’inaugurazione, con l’arcata centrale alta 32 metri, la sala principale di circa 800 metriquadri, capienza di 2500 persone, con un palcoscenico utilizzabile per conferenze, concerti e spettacoli. Manufatti e prodotti esposti erano dell’industria locale, nazionale e straniera, soprattutto tedesca e francese: si passava da prodotti chimici e farmaceutici a macchine per la manifattura delle sigarette; nel padiglione degli strumenti ospedalieri c’erano letti da campo della Croce Rossa. Singolari, ma quanto mai attuali – viste le polemiche sui ritardi nel completamento dei lavori dell’Expo di Milano – una vignetta satirica pubblicata dal giornale “Monsignor Perrelli” del 15 marzo 1900 sull’andamento dei lavori, e la notizia apparsa nel quotidiano “Il Pungolo Parlamentare” proprio nel giorno dell’inaugurazione: “L’Esposizione non è completa né perfetta, sia per colpa di alcuni, sia perché niente ancora è completo e perfetto in questa nuova vita del Mezzogiorno: ma è la prova delle nostre potenzialità e del bisogno che abbiamo di affermarle”.
L’assassinio di Umberto I a Monza il 29 luglio 1900, per mano dell’anarchico Bresci, mise improvvisamente fine alla manifestazione, che forse avrebbe avuto ben altro respiro, anche nel ricordo dei napoletani.
Sorgente: Expo, quella di Napoli del 1900: quando l’Italia scoprì l’igiene per tutti – Repubblica.it
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