Laorca cemetery: an identity space between history and legend

Journal title STORIA IN LOMBARDIA
Author/s Paola Redemagni
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2020/2
Language Italian Pages 20 P. 5-24 File size 1240 KB
DOI 10.3280/SIL2020-002001
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Today Laorca is a district of Lecco city (Italy) but, during the past, it was a village with a strong historical, economic, social identity and a long tradition of administrative independence. Its cemetery was famous: it was considered miraculous for both people and for the local economy. In 1923, Benito Mussolini decreased the aggregation to the Lecco Municipality of Laorca and of the neighboring villages municipalities. The local cemeteries will be destroied and replaced with the New Single Urban Cemetery, to be built in Malgrate Municipality. The Mayor and the citizens of Laorca rose up to defend the cemetery. Against all odds, in an era of great authoritarianism, they were successful. The New Urban Cemetery was partially built between 1933 and 1938 but it was never completed: in the post II WW democratic context, it represents an expression of a fascist will opposite the local population’s one and it was destroyed in 1973. Instead, the Laorca cemetery is today a part of European Cemeteries Route, the project that enhances historical cemeteries as a fundamental part of the human heritage, promoted by the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE).

Keywords: Laorca, cemetery, miracols, Fascist regime, identity, cultural heritage

Paola Redemagni, Il cimitero di Laorca: uno spazio identitario fra storia e leggenda in "STORIA IN LOMBARDIA" 2/2020, pp 5-24, DOI: 10.3280/SIL2020-002001