Mason Hammond – La guerra in Sicilia di un professore di Harvard
Negli ultimi giorni di luglio 1943, arrivò in Sicilia, per essere poi a Palermo in pianta stabile, un capitano dell’AMGOT della Sub Commission Fine Arts and Monuments. Il suo incarico era quello di aiutare il Soprintendente Guiotto, ed altri dirigenti del settore opere d’arte, a mettere in sicurezza i monumenti devastati dai bombardamenti anglo-americani. Persona di alto livello culturale e amante della Sicilia, si prodigò per fare arrivare le somme che dovevano servire a mettere tutte le opere d’arte in sicurezza ed iniziare i restauri. Antesignano per eccellenza dei Monuments Men, che arrivarono dopo di lui, scrisse le direttive e i consigli per affrontare il problema nel resto d’Italia ed in Europa. Nella mostra “La Guerra dell’Arte”, tenutasi a Palermo nel 2017-2018, sono state esposte le sue corrispondenze in merito ai lavori svolti a Palermo. “Figlio di Harvard”, prestigiosa università americana coinvolta direttamente nella guerra, ha dato tantissimo a Palermo.
I wrote this book, “Mason Hammond – The war in Sicily of a Harvard professor”, because it is the brief Sicilian history of the professor and Captain Mason Hammond. Captain Hammond arrived in Sicily at the end of July 1943 and settled in Palermo as Adviser of the Fine Arts and Monuments of the AMGOT. Getting around in a city destroyed by bombing was not easy, especially because the most basic things were missing and food was scarce. In spite of everything, in the five months of his stay in Sicily, Hammond managed to create the operational bases for the future Monuments Men, also writing guidelines for field operations and, above all, managing to get Allied funding for the safety of the works of art and monuments of Palermo. The city should be very grateful to him, as the bombed churches and aristocratic palaces were placed under protection and today make a fine show of themselves. This book speaks exclusively of his arrival in Sicily, from Africa, and of his days in Palermo where he worked, with so much devotion and love, together with the Superintendent Guiotto and other managers of the offices responsible for the protection of the great Sicilian artistic heritage. The book also contains images by Prof. Hammond and many things connected with his work in Palermo.
Attilio Albergoni (Attilio Albergoni testo e immagini ©)