Among them are artists, entrepreneurs, traders, doctors and young sports champions, engaged in culture, social life and volunteering, especially against violence and gender inequality. These are the 8 women awarded this morning (March 12), in the council chamber of the Municipality of Santa Croce, for the fourth edition of an initiative that has finally returned to the presence.
“They were afraid of not being able to find 8 women to be awarded every year and instead we already have the names of the women to be awarded next year” said the mayor Giulia Deidda, delivering plates and bunches of mimosas to the eight women this year together with the councilor Nada Braccini.
Called in alphabetical order, the 8 Santacrocese women awarded this morning are Vittoria Becchetti, young video artist and director, winner of an international award in New York; Brunella Brotinifirst female doctor of Santa Croce, now active in volunteering with the Public Assistance and the women’s listening center of the Lilith association; Thanks Chiariniformer family doctor engaged in the past in the institutions as a municipal councilor with responsibility for equal opportunities; Lavinia Consani, young skating champion; Meri Giacomelli, owner of the historic haberdashery in the center of Santa Croce; Roberta Magi, entrepreneur at the helm of the Pag Chimica di Santa Croce, engaged in voluntary work against gender violence; Simonetta Melani, artist, former member of the commission of the expressive activities center of Villa Pacchiani and Letizia Quaglierini, English teacher, former deputy mayor of Santa Croce and appreciated novelist.
Here is who the 8 awarded women are in detail.
Vittoria Becchetti
Young video artist and director in the world of contemporary art and authorial cinema, he is in charge of directing advertising campaigns for some fashion brands. Someone recently met her at the Internet Festival with her “I am | A |”, an audiovisual project for which she was awarded at the 2021 New York City Independent Film Festival where she was awarded the title of Best Experimental Film of the year. ; it also received nominations for Best Experimental Film and for Soundtrack at the Prisma Rome Independent Film Awards.
Brunella Brotini
First female doctor in Santa Croce, family doctor, a real point of reference, over the years, for the whole Santacrocese community and not just for her and her patients. Now, retired, she dedicates herself to volunteering by engaging in the Public Assistance of Santa Croce sull’Arno and in particular with the Donna Lilith Aid Center of the Public Assistance Riunite of Empoli. Her professional contribution was not lacking during the pandemic by making herself available to the vaccination campaign.
Grace Chiarini
Family doctor, also involved in the institutional life of Santa Croce sull’Arno as a municipal councilor with responsibility for Equal Opportunities. Now she, retired, she is a trainer for the Free University of Autobiography in Anghiari and is a staunch supporter of narrative medicine. She has always been active in the world of voluntary and social work, for many years she has been president of the Consultative Commission of the Giovanni Meacci nursing home.
He is currently coordinating, with a team of international partners, the writing of a manual and a “serious game” for a European project based on autobiography.
Lavinia Consani
She lives for skates, she is very young, she has won numerous competitions including national roller skating competitions. Despite her injury having forced her to stop, her determination led her to be a promising young man at the Polisportiva Coop Empoli, training with passion and a spirit of sacrifice, rare to find in girls and boys of her age. she.
Meri Giacomelli
A historic merchant in the historic center of Santa Croce sull’Arno, Meri went through decades of Santacrocese life in his haberdashery shop, opened in Corso Mazzini since 1933.
Today, after a long and intense career, Meri has left to her children the helm of the business that continues to be a point of reference for all and all the people of Santa Croce.
Roberta Magi
Entrepreneur, at the helm of the chemical tag of Santa Croce sull’Arno, has chosen to entrust the strategic sectors of the company to women. In her path she started as an employee and after a period of training during the years of working activity, she obtained the evening diploma in tanning chemistry. Once she established herself as a professional, she decided to support women victims of violence on an ongoing basis through the “Difference woman” association, she is a founding member of the national DIRe association. – Women on the Net against violence.
Simonetta Melani
Artist: engraver, painter, illustrator, originally from Castelfranco, but adopted by Santacrocese for many years now, she has long held the position of President of the Villa Pacchiani Expressive Activities Center Commission. She has always been attentive to social life, a feminist, founder of the Donneinsieme Group, born in Santa Croce in the late seventies. Her indomitable spirit, great dreamer, she was also an elementary teacher and left, in anyone who met her, the sign of her passion for the things of the world.
Letizia Quaglierini
During her long career as a teacher and English teacher Letizia has cultivated writing giving birth to novels and poems for which she has received many awards and recognitions at national level, the last in order of time she achieved with the novel “Milan and the unknown ”at the Milano international literary prize – Unpublished novel section and short story collection. You also dedicated part of her life to the politics and institutions of Santa Croce sull’Arno, covering the role of deputy mayor for some years.
“Today – said the mayor Giulia Deidda – was the fourth edition of the initiative Eight women for March 8th. We started together with Carla Zucchi and then we continued over the years, because it is right to tell the stories of the women of Santa Croce sull’Arno who have distinguished themselves in various fields and to underline the importance of the results they have achieved, because we still live in a world in which celebrating a male talent seems more natural than applauding a female genius. It was exciting to go back to living this moment in presence “.
“I hope – he also added – that this gradual return to normal does not stop again. The winds of war that blow at the gates of Europe unfortunately do not promise anything good, but it is nice to see that the Santacrocese community it has already activated a solidarity network and is ready to help the Ukrainian population fleeing death and destruction. Last year we rewarded all the women involved in voluntary activities who during the pandemic showed their determination not to leave anyone alone in times of difficulty. This year I want to thank them again, because in these days they are working hard to collect basic necessities to be distributed in refugee camps open on the borders of Ukraine ”.