This prize originated from the wishes concerning the widowed Teresa Brignardello Turio’s legacy. In her will dated 2nd March 1872, she declared: “I bequeath an income of 300 lire to the Società Economica in State Revenue Dividends, with which two gold medals are to be made to be awarded, each year, on the prize-giving  day, one to the artist who will have created the best artistic work in the school; the other one for the best work exhibited. Both medals must never be given to a single person and will bear the usual stamp of the Società Economica”.

The prize was thus connected to the products which the Società Economica of Chiavari had exhibited since 1793, which it had originated to develop craftsmanship in this area.

 

The medals were reproduced from the sketch made in 1823 by the archeologist Ennio Quirino Visconti and engraved by Putinati. They show: on the front the images of Ceres, Mercury and Vulcan, to symbolize agriculture, commerce and crafts, with the motto “Vitam excoluere per artes”; and on the back the inscription “Societas clavarensis rei agrariae commerciis et opificiis promovendis - 1791”.

Mrs. Maria Rosa Cassani Copello, in her will in 1959 ordered to re-establish the prize, giving one medal to the best artist and the other to the best craftsman.

 

List of Prize-winners

 

1984        E.M.M.E. di De Vinvenzi Rita, bassorilievi terracotta – Lavagna

   SARRERI  Giovanni Carlo, strumenti musicali – Chiavari

 

1985        STURLA Luiso, Pittore – Chiavari

   Ditta S.A.C. Sedie Artistiche Chiavaresi

 

1986        UGOLINI Vittorio, Pittore – Chiavari

   TIPOGRAFIA COLOMBO di bancalatri L.& C. – Chiavari

 

1987        SANGUINETI Bartolomeo, Pittore – Chiavari

   VICINI Linda, Maestra artigiana del macramé – Lavagna

 

1988        GALBIATI Giacinto, Pittore – Chiavari

   TOPAZIO Mariano, Maestro d’ascia – Lavagna

 

1989        RAFFO  Eugenia Maria, Xilografo – Sestri Levante

   CASONI Franco, Intagliatore - Chiavari

 

1990        ROCCA Mario, Pittore, - Incisore – Chiavari

   FURLAN Renzo, Decoratore – Restauratore – Chiavari

 

1991    JOB Giovanni, Incisore – Pittore - Chiavari

  PASQUI Giampietro, Doratore – Restauratore – Chiavari

 

1992    MAZZOLA Tollo Vittorio, Scultore su ardesia - Chiavari

 VENTURINI Fernanda, Costumi storici – Ricami oro – Cogorno

 

1993    COPPOLA Gianluigi, Illustratore - Chiavari

 GAGGIOLI Sergio, Tessiture. Velluti, damaschi – Zoagli

 

1994    not adiudicated

 

1995    ZAPPETTINI Gianfranco, Pittore – Chiavari

 BIANCALANI Bruno, Restauratore mobili antichi – Chiavari

 

1996    not adiudicated

 

1997    NEONATO Nicola, Scultore - Genova

 ZUCCHI, Falegnami - Leivi

 

1998    not adiudicated

 

1999    DALLORSO Francesco, Scultore - Lavagna

 ZEREGA Emilio, “Spacchino” – Monleone

 

2000    GRANDE Luigi, Pittore – Chiavari

 VERSARI Giulio, Oggettistica nautica – Rapallo

Adriano De Laurentis, Pittore - Cavi di Lavagna

                 

2001    MARTONE Roberto, Pittore – S.Savatore di Cogorno

             SCORZA Giovanni, Falegname - Leivi

 

2002    DEFILLA Bettina, Pittrice – Scultrice - Cicagna

                      ROSASCO Sergio, Restauratore orologi - Chiavari

 

    The 2003 Tullio-Copello Prize to the best artist will not be awarded.

 

Instead it will  award two Certificates.

Certificate awarded in memory of the painter Gaetano de’ Robertis, with the following motivation: “ Ten years after his death the Società Economica di Chiavari gives homage to the

painter Gaetano de’ Robertis who worked in the Tigullio area for almost fifty years. It is a posthumous prize to a real artist, who worked in silence never seeking praise, never desirous of gratification, believing in his form of art, which continues to live in his paintings”.

 

Certificate awarded to Massimo Bavarello for the following motivation: “ Massimo Bavarello, born in Genoa but lived in Chiavari, used his personal experience, built up during his life from his deep love for the conservation of ancient documents, which are easily perishable and rarely obtainable. He placed this passion at the service of the Società Economica di Chiavari”

His work consisted in photographing and later putting on CD Rom the “Diari pittorici” by Salietti (composed of 38 note-books) and about 50 “Tavole anatomiche” (Anatomy Drawings) by Mascagni in sepia and in polychrome, dating back to 1823.

Bavarello personally followed the work of installing computers etc. obtaining excellent results.

The Società Economica has awarded the painter Adriano De Laurentis a prize in praise of his career  for the following motives:

2Adriano De >laurentis has incessantly expressed the innermost soul of objects and people.

He is particularly well-Known for his landscapes whiich are always splendid even when they contain a misty light; as also in the numerous portraits, the spirit is revealed while at the same  time, he lingers ever the faces and female figures expressing the manifestation of his admiration  for them  he shows us a new aspect of everyday scenes which his art has rediscovered.

Adriano >De Laurentis continues to make us contemplate a truly austere and spiritual quality of painting which captures the sintesis of reality as well as emotion contained in the subject-matter.

 He was born in Lavagna (Genoa) in 1922; he studied art at the Barabino Art School in Genoa, guided by Lino Perissinotti. He taught at the Institute of Chiavari for 35 years, as well as in his own studio.

Since 1955 he wandered through the whole of Europe in search of new skies and new horizons; preferring the softened lights and silent wide spaces of nordic landscapes.

For various months of the year he abandoned the intense colours of the Ligurian scene for the austere canals and fiords,  “the immense sandy beaches, were grass and bushes of dogroses bloom near the shore…”

 His creativity has carried him through Liguria, Austria, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of his painting and sculptures can be found in the museums and collections of those countries.