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Retired musicians enjoy ‘grand finale’ at Verdi home
MILAN, March 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nearly 120 years after Italian composer
Giuseppe Verdi called it his “most beautiful work”, ageing musicians still
play out their days at his Casa Verdi retirement home.
Piano music resonates down the corridors of the sumptuous Milan palazzo,
while a singer performs in the vast main room for dozens of pensioners, who
were once professional musicians themselves.
With around 60 residents who have all dedicated their lives to music, the
sound of music in one form or another is everywhere.
“This place is paradise,” says Marisa Terzi, 79, who arrived four months
ago.
“For me, music is everything, and I didn’t expect to find such a fantastic
place.” “It’s everything but a rest home! It’s a holiday home,” she laughs.
“Time flies… in the morning there’s a pianist, and everyone comes to
listen, even those in wheelchairs.
“We all sing together, it’s so beautiful, and then there are concerts all
afternoon.”
Terzi, a singer and composer, moved in because she says she had “no more
family”.
“I’m lucky, because I really feel at home here,” she adds.
Romanian-born musicologist Bissy Roman, 94, is also happy to be in a place
where residents can play music themselves, enjoy listening to others play it
and are surrounded by fellow musicians.
“There came a time when I felt like I was all alone in the world, I didn’t
have anyone anymore, and the Casa Verdi was the last solution: dying with
music in my heart and near my musician companions,” she said, having lived in
Russia, France and the United States during her long life.
– ‘A real miracle’ –
Verdi, who composed operas such as “Aida” and “La traviata”, was himself
elderly when he decided at the end of the 19th century to create a “rest
home” in what was then the countryside outside Milan.
The neoclassical palazzo, designed by Camillo Boito, the brother of one of
Verdi’s favourite libretto writers, was built to allow impoverished musicians
to live out their days in dignity.
According to his own wishes, the Casa Verdi only opened in 1902, a year
after the composer died aged 87.
Almost 120 years later, the home is run by the Giuseppe Verdi Foundation
and has neither debts nor public funding, which is “a real miracle”, said the
home’s president Roberto Ruozi. Residents make a monthly contribution based
on their means.
However this amount always comes to “less than a fifth of the running
costs”, with the lion’s share covered by income from past investments, Ruozi
said.
“Verdi left the rights to his royalties to Casa Verdi, which was for 60
years a non-negligeable sum, part of which was invested” in 120 apartments
that are today rented out, he added.
The home has also received donations, such as one of about six million
euros ($6.8 million) from the daughter of Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini,
which are subsequently invested.
“We get room and board, there’s medical help. We’re looked after
marvellously and we have everything: rooms to play the piano, a concert
hall…,” said pianist Raimondo Campisi, 71.
He came here four years ago after living for 20 years on a boat in
Beaulieu-sur-Mer in the south of France. He spent his career travelling the
world playing the piano.
Besides retirees, the Casa is also home to around 15 music students, some
from Milan’s renowned La Scala Academy, as part of a project to connect
different generations started in 1999.
– Generations –
Just like her fellow musicians from Italy, Japan or South Korea, 30-year-
old soprano Marika Spadafino appreciates the mix.
“I speak a lot with the pensioners, they listen to me sing, give me tips,”
said the southern Italian native.
“They know how to share their experiences. For me, coming from a family
where no one played music, it’s really important.
“And when things don’t go well, they know how to console you and give you
the strength to go on,” said Spadafino.
Nevertheless, passions can run high at times among the group of musicians.
“Put 60 artists living together, oh la la, you can just imagine!” said
Campisi. The Casa Verdi has a waiting list of around 10 people, who will have
to bide their time for a spot until a current resident dies.
“I hope I’ll be here a little longer,” said Terzi. “But we all know that
we’ll die here, so we’re always ready.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1825 hrs