Caverni, Raffaello
,
Storia del metodo sperimentale in Italia
,
1891-1900
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At Montelupo I heard that the Caverni had moved away some time ago;
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fortunately, a relative was able to tell me they now live in Prato. </
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was able to trace Egisto's eldest son, Lamberto, and at his home I was able
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to look the manuscripts over and hear of their vicissitudes. </
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<
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does not remember Giovannozzi's visits; during those years he was away in
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the war. </
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<
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">He does remember that his father's large family (Egisto raised ten
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children) was always ready to receive and assist anyone who declared he
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wanted to study or copy those papers. </
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<
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as Giovannozzi: someone even published some unprinted works in his own
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name, not without taking all the postage stamps off the correspondence! In
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the meantime, by making many sacrifices, Egisto Caverni was able to set up a
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saw mill with a shop for making packing cases; he rented a place in the street
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named today for Raffaello Caverni in a zone separated from the capital,
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Montelupo, only by the Pesa river which flows into the Arno there. </
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few years, not far from there, he began to build himself a new house on the
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avenue that leads to the Villa Ambrogiana. </
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<
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followed the family as it moved and were always allotted the most decorous
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space possible. </
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it returned home, the little packing case factory began to prosper. </
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">But on the
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day of Epiphany in 1920, after a period of heavy rains, the rivers swelled
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beyond measure and the Pesa overflowed with incredible violence. </
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<
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manuscripts were on the ground floor in the “office” and were transferred to
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the upper floor just in time. </
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<
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around the property and swept away all the lumber stored there; the house
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itself seemed about to collapse. </
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<
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">During the months following the flood every
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attempt was made to recover from that ruin, but a year later another flood
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similar to the first put a definite end to the artisan activity of that large family,
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reducing it, literally, to desperation. </
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Prato because their best clients were there and, perhaps, to avoid the risk of
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another useless effort. </
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<
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">But they needed at last 20,000 lire to set themselves up
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in business again, capital which a relative was ready to offer, against, however,
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ample guarantees. </
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<
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">For these he asked for Raffaello Caverni's manuscripts
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which Egisto and his ten children had shown they cared for more than anything
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else! In a few years of hard work in the favorable zone of Prato, the Caverni put
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their old business back on its feet. </
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<
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">But Lamberto remembers that his father, by
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then old and infirm, could find no peace until he could go to Montelupo to repay
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that debt and regain the manuscripts. </
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<
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During the Second World War, in the air raid of January 17, 1943, the
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Caverni house and factory were once again destroyed, but the manuscripts had
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already been opportunely evacuated to a safe place under the church of nearby
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Figline and could thus be returned undamaged to the family. </
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<
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Caverni, following the instructions of his great-uncle's will has already con-</
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