Section 7 - Illustrious Toiranesi Personalities

The history of a village is shaped by its customs and traditions. But also, inevitably, by its illustrious personalities who have left their mark.The section of the Museum we are about to visit pays tribute to three distinguished figures from Toirano: Giuseppe Polla, Onesto Garassini and Baccio Emanuele Maineri.Who were they and are they still remembered in the village today?Captain Giuseppe Polla was born in Toirano in 1659 and died in 1716. In the very year of his death, he founded the village’s first free public school, which remained active for about ninety years. Education was entrusted to the Scolopian fathers until 1798, when the Ligurian Republic suppressed the order.Here you can see his portrait, displayed alongside a painting of the Holy Family from his home, also dating to the late 17th century.Onesto Garassini, on the other hand, was a figure of the Italian Risorgimento. He was born in 1832 and died in 1902. He served as a captain in the Bersaglieri and received important honours. On the cushion of honour, you can admire the silver medal awarded to him by King Victor Emmanuel II for the Unification of Italy and an honour conferred to him by Queen Victoria for his role in the Crimean War, in 1855. The bronze medal commemorates the liberation of Rome in 1870, when, the breach of Porta Pia, the city was taken from papal rule and annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.Finally, Baccio Emanuele Maineri was a man of letters and patriot from Toirano who was born in 1831 and died in Rome in 1899. He transcribed one of the earliest Italian translations of Edgar Allan Poe's 'Incredible Stories' in 1869. He was acquainted with prominent figures such as the Cairoli family, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and the chaplain of the Thousand, Fra Pantaleo, to whom he dedicated the book displayed in the cases in this room.