FROM ITALY TO FINLAND PASSING THROUGH TURKU – A contribution to the history of Italian emigration


p. 146-164

6.6. A man of our time

The most famous representative of the community of the descendants of the first immigrants is undoubtedly Benito Guglielmo Giovanni Casagrande, born in Turku on 6 June 1942, in that Heideken clinic which is by ancient definition the place of the real ‘Turkuensity’ 391. Up to the age of 14 he is still an Italian citizen, Urho Kekkonen who will sign the decree granting the Finnish nationality. The delay was due to the fact that the father had long considered moving to Italy. At school, by his own admission, he gets along without particularly shining. He attended the evening high school where he graduated in 1963; at this time he is already romantically linked to Irma Annikki Saarela, born in Lappee in Karelia on June 18, 1940. The first daughter will soon be born, Caterina Irma on 23.9.1961 and then Cristina Angelina on 15.11.1962 and finally Carolina Benita on 16.4.1967. Benito now has a family to support and at the same time he has to study. He managed to graduate brilliantly in architecture in 1970 with a thesis on the arrangement of the Old Square of the Turku Cathedral (Vanha suurtori), a subject that will remain dear to him for years to come. Returning to Turku from Helsinki, where he had studied at the local Polytechnic, he began his career. He was employed in the Aarne Ervi architectural studio in 1964-1968, then moved on to that of Aarno Ruusuvuori in 1968-69 and again in that of Lukander & Vahtera in 1969-1972. Quickly it makes its way into the environments of architects, but above all of building builders, who in recent years have been carrying out an intense activity that particularly affects the historic center of the city. Thus began his long run to success, which led him to make fruitful contacts in the environment of stormtroopers and building speculators, the real masters of Turku in those years.

Benito worked as an architect for many years, in collaboration with Kari Haroma, husband of his cousin Monica Casagrande, daughter of Wittorio392. Haroma will resign in 1992 from the position of CEO of Casagrande & Haroma. On 15.7.1992 a new company was created, the architect's studio C&H Oy (these are the initials of the two partners); Kari Haroma is appointed as managing director. In addition to architectural design, the two companies to which the Casagrande and Haroma architectural firm belonged had as their field of action, the purchase of building land and the granting of rentals, the construction of buildings and other activities always related to the real estate sector. Jukka Paaso393, defined Casagrande "the gallop" of the Kokoomus party and of the politics of consensus, that is, that alliance that united and still unites the center-right Kokoomus party to the Social Democratic party, thanks to which the building speculation, based on the mixture of interests between finance and politics, he could continue in Turku for decades. In the opinion of many, however, the success of the architectural projects was mainly due to the technical ability of the partner of the Casagrande studio, the architect Kari Haroma, while Casagrande was mainly concerned with procuring the works394. Jukka Paaso wrote: «For years the media in Turku have been silent about the links between the studio of the court architect Benito Casagrande395 and businessmen. These political-economic ties explain, for example, why Casagrande and Haroma have received, and Benito still receives, so much attention in the Turku newspaper Turun Sanomat». And he continues: «These links reveal that the whole myth of the court architect's office is a soap bubble. Freemasons, Knights of Malta, Crypts and Templars no longer amaze anyone in Turku»396. Here Paaso referred to the belonging of Benito Casagrande, as indicated in the national press, to the Masonic lodge Phoenix of Turku, as well as to the Templar Order and then to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

A fundamental gift of Benito Casagrande is his flair for finding the right path and making friends that matter. Thus, thanks to the support he enjoys in the financial and political fields, he quickly climbs the social ladder. Among these powerful friends of his, with whom he collaborates closely, is Juhani Leppä, who became mayor of Turku on 1 April 1989397. It is Leppä who gives Casagrande some important assignments, co-opting him among other things in the University Foundation of Turku (Yliopistosäätiö), thanks to which Casagrande will be able to start a new phase in his career, which we could call ’of culture’.

The rapid rise of Benito Casagrande is therefore exemplary; it is due to his undoubted personal qualities, but also to his frequentation with those who ’count’ in Turku. As Pyry Lapintie writes: «in Turku, Casagrande's dominant position as an architect is based not only on his professional skills, but also on the careful choice of his friends since they were infants»398. Among these representatives of the Turku financial elite, however, competition also arises, but not so much on the economic level, being linked to the same interests, but on the social one. If one of them collects art, the other will also start doing it. If he buys old cars, a vintage Jaguar will appear immediately in his friend's garage. If one becomes a Mason, the others will follow him into the mystery of the lodge399. This run-up to whoever surpasses the friend (or the enemy) is typical of Turku tycoons. Keijo Ketonen, Jukka Wihanto, Matti Koivurinta400, Benito Casagrande thus became art collectors, creating their own museum or chapel to show to distinguished guests, getting honorary doctors (honoris causa) nominated by the city's universities and using culture as a means of promotion, thanks to which they try to make people forget their past as building owners with what it cost in terms of speculation and damage to the image of the city. However, they remain united, probably thanks to the Masonic bond.

And since cloaks and decorations cannot be flaunted outside the lodges, the season of knightly orders will begin. And it is here that Benito Casagrande scores a point in his favor by becoming, thanks to his belonging to the Holy Roman Church, a member of the most prestigious of the (true) orders of chivalry, to which his friends, almost all Lutherans with the exception of the Catholic Wihanto, do not they could never have access. And this may explain his insistence for years on being ’Finland's only knight of Malta’401. Casagrande, at the end of his long journey towards social promotion, will therefore land where his playmates could never have arrived, that is the very prestigious Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM)402. For the great-grandson of a posetiivari it is a beautiful, and undeniable, satisfaction, which in itself confirms the great capacity for social ascent of this character.

The octagonal cross, symbol of the Order, was reproduced in the chapel that Benito had built on the land where the hospital and the church of the Holy Spirit403 once stood and the relative cemetery on which the adjoining modern building where the Casagrande family lives now, stands the Julia complex. Under the apartments of Casagrande the remains of about 650 deceased have been found and preserved here. The chapel was inaugurated in the presence of the Catholic bishop of Finland on 29 July 1992404 and blessed as a cemetery on 3 August 1999 by the Catholic bishop Paul Verschuren and the Lutheran archbishop Jukka Paarma405. The Casagrande couple will be buried here. «We ourselves, my wife and I» - Benito Casagrande declares to the journalist - «we decided to stay here as a guarantee for these dead»406. In the chapel there are the remains of a part of those who had been buried in the church of the Holy Spirit between 1590 and 1650, as well as those of a suicide and an infant found outside the perimeter of the church407. In this way, Benito Casagrande declares, we wanted to restore the peace of the sepulcher to the dead408. Evidently, the Finnish ghosts are very compliant with modern building solutions.

After his career as a court architect, Benito Casagrande discovered the importance of the role played by cultural and academic investment. From 1989 to 1993 there was an ’Irma and Benito Casagrande editori’, which in those years published the Italian-Finnish study magazine Settentrione. The collaborative relationship between Casagrande and the editors of the magazine ended as a result of the diversity of views on how to manage it. Once the collaboration ceased, the magazine passed to the Finnish Society of Italian Language and Culture, founded in 1994 with the aim of administering the magazine, chaired by Lauri Lindgren, then holder of the chair of Romance philology at the University of Turku. However, the collaboration with Benito Casagrande did not completely cease, passing through the Irma and Benito Casagrande Fund (Irma ja Benito Casagranden rahasto), managed by the University Foundation (Yliopistosäätiö). This Fund was established in 1992 with what was donated by friends and various entities to Benito Casagrande on the occasion of his 50th birthday, namely 80,000 Finnish marks (13,456 euros), a sum later supplemented by contributions from the Kiinteistö Oy Casagrandentalo409 company.

Benito Casagrande has the merit of having published at his own expense, to celebrate the inauguration of the chapel in July 1992, the translation of the Kanteletar, by Renzo Porceddu, edited by Lauri Lindgren and Luigi de Anna, with an introduction by S. Timonen410. However, this editorial initiative did not have a follow up. On the contrary, an active and refined publisher Rolando Pieraccini, who moved permanently to Finland in 1975, who in addition to promoting the publication of over thirty books on art, fiction and poetry with two publishing houses, worked as a gallery owner. In 2010 he donated a precious collection of 20th century Italian graphics (724 works including prints, drawings and watercolors by 42 Italian artists) to the Ateneum museum in Helsinki, the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries411.

Returning to Casagrande's Kanteletar, as he himself declared to a journalist in 1992, the initiative was born from the desire to pay homage to his wife Irma, of Karelian origins, where most of the Kanteletarian corpus was collected by Elias Lönnrot, in fact: «Irma has read Kanteletar many times and has received numerous awards»412. Kanteletar had never been translated so broadly into Italian. Casagrande adds that the translation is the result of a cultural operation that unites Italy and Finland. On 16.9.1993 he donated 272 copies of the book to the President of the Italian Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, on a visit to Turku413. In the speech that accompanied the donation made to Turku Castle, where the lunch offered by the Prefect of Turku in honor of the guest was held, he stressed that the volume was intended to be a thank you for his thirty years of marriage with his wife Irma, celebrated, he specified, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Finnish independence. In fact, Casagrande loves to combine his private anniversaries with public ones, in fact he celebrated, with the opera concert held in August 2011, the 50th anniversary of his marriage and the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. Thus ended the speech to President Scalfaro: «By donating the Italian translation of Kanteletar to you, Mr. President, and through you by donating 324 copies of these books to Italian libraries to be read by Italians, we also wish to show our respect and thanks to the native country of my ancestors. In Kanteletar, Italian and Finnish cultures come together in the same way they merge in our family»414.

Casagrande appears as a member of a truly considerable number of foundations and committees that manage considerable capital. The wave of scandals that had swept away some of his main business partners seems in fact to advise him to abandon the slippery terrain of building speculation to move to that, much more profitable for the image, if not for the portfolio, of Foundations for cultural purposes, where finance still plays a decisive role. And finance is his field. He thus becomes part of the board of directors of the Pro Manilla Foundation, named after an old industrial building overlooking the Aura River. The purpose of the Foundation is to protect the building, which dates back to 1860, from demolition by using a real estate company (Kiinteistöyhtiö Vanha Manilla). The latter buys the building from the Puolimatka company, owned by a close friend of Benito's, of whom he was already a partner in the past415.

Casagrande, in addition to being president of the Finnish Culture Foundation (Suomen kulttuurisäätiö, since 2007) is the head of another important cultural institution, the one that administers the historic residence of Brinkhall416. He was also appointed vice president of the Vanhalinna Foundation's board of directors, as well as being the chairman of the committee that manages its real estate properties and a member of the committee that plans its development, financially linked to the University Foundation, which provided a part of the capital to the Vanhalinna Foundation, which repays it with the proceeds from the right to build on the land it owns417. This has managed the stately building since 1998 and the land left in Lieto by the spouses Mauno and Ester Wanhalinna at the University of Turku in 1956418. Once the restoration of the building was completed, a part of the surrounding land (80 ha) was divided up for an extension of 10 ha, while remaining the ownership of the building land to the Foundation, as per the express will of the donors, who did not want the property as a whole or in its parts to be alienated. This "soft subdivision" thus makes it possible to overcome the constraint imposed by the Wanhalinna spouses on their donation, who certainly would not have liked to see part of their property transformed into lots destined for a few dozen single-family houses419.

In the rise in the paracultural field, the appeal of the Italian spirit has undoubtedly benefited. That same Italianness that in previous generations had been a burden, now becomes an advantage420. Italy has become fashionable, and the descendant of the emigrant will appeal to it to stand out. The Italian is now no longer the pariah who played the accordion or sold ice cream in the market square, but a person who has his roots in that people who stand out for their good taste and lifestyle.

Casagrande, who was according to the public rumor satirized in a 1981 film, ’Yö meren rannalla’ by Erkko Kivikoski as Isotalon Pentti, a renowned Turku architect in whose villa things happened not really as altar boys or even knights, or who had been taken around in a play performed at the Swedish theater of Turku (Åbo Svenska Teater), now he frequents the circles of that academic culture and in any case not linked to the financial assault that initially rejected him, relegating him to the group of speculators and destroyers of values cultural heritage of the city421. Thanks to his undeniable and admirable business sense, he has put aside a considerable real estate and share capital (in 2007 he sold, together with the partners, his participation in the Caribia Baths of Turku, obtaining considerable liquidity422), he no longer needs be an architect. Casagrande does not leave the scene, however, on the contrary, he has found a new limelight in culture, which becomes his new field of action. Following the example of his former friend Juhani Leppä, began collecting stakes in various foundations. Today the memory of the controversial court architect is now far away, replaced by that of the man of culture who even promoted the defense of the old Turku. In short, Casagrande experiences a new phase of his career between the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s; Often quoted by the local press, he is an esteemed and certainly very influential figure (and this inevitably increases the esteem of the public). In its own way, it becomes an integral part of that ’caste’ which also in Finland has a specific social and economic function.

The character, however, is more complex than this, necessary simplification, could make it appear. On the one hand, if we talk about Italian culture, Casagrande has actually helped the Italian presence, think of the first issues he published of the Settentrione, or the publication of the Italian translation of Kanteletar, but on the other hand he has constantly linked this patronage of his of image that it could procure for him. In short, culture is a good investment, not only from a financial point of view, the foundations make it possible to expand economic contacts, at home and in Estonia, where Casagrande is also active, but also, indeed above all, from a point of view of image. Benito Casagrande rightly wanted to shake off the fame he had earned in the 1980s as a ’court architect’, with that recurrence of his name in journalistic reports dedicated to the ’Turku disease’ and the ’Turku mafia’. The power linked to the former friend mayor has faded, as well as the rules governing contracts following the entry of Finland into the EU have changed, political groups such as the Greens have arrived in the Municipality, sensitive to the denunciation of urban devastation, citizens' associations born who want to save what is left of the old Turku, swept away by the economic crisis some of the financiers who were part of the group of ’friends of the Kindergarten’, overwhelmed by legal events some of the Turku tycoons, Casagrande preferred to pull the oars in the boat. Thus, on August 18, 2004, the Turku newspaper announced that Benito Casagrande had retired from his activity as an architect, leaving the C&H423 studio to the direction of his daughter Caterina Casagrande-Mäkelä, to Ari Paukio and Aarni Raila. With wit, Casagrande motivated his retirement by recalling that already at the beginning of his career he had noticed that the worst obstacle for those who work in this sector are architects of a certain age. At 62, he therefore admitted, «you have to know how to get out of the way».

Benito Casagrande, a Finnish in all respects, however, remains tied to the Italianness of his ancestors and this Italianness he represents in the city of Turku, and not only because he holds the position of honorary consul of our country424, but because Italy continues to do reference. So he declared to a journalist: «My father wanted to teach us children to love Italy. Life hasn't always been easy for him in Turku. He had an acute nostalgia for Italy, where perhaps once he could have returned with his family ». But here is the contradiction, which is perhaps the basis of our behavior: «Benito Casagrande defines himself as Finnish and declares that his mother tongue is Finnish: he speaks Swedish fairly well, but does not hide his Italian origin under the chair. He is Catholic and it is said that the Catholic parish of Turku is made up of the Casagrande family and someone else»425. Casagrande, however, stated in an interview that Italianness is actually a back door for him, albeit an expensive one, given that one can only have a homeland426. Bagerstam rightly notes that it must not have been easy for the son of a toy merchant to get to where Benito is. And this explains many things to us; it tells us of the desire to appear, to show not so much one's wealth (the Finnish taxi driver is rather attentive to certain exhibitions and therefore the properties must be distributed among the various companies), but his own power and that ’where did he go’ which is the typical and understandable desire of those descended from immigrants who have had to fight hard to succeed.

Benito, a man of many talents, does not know how to escape the desire to appear, to make himself known, to impose himself with his own economic well-being and his own power, as if he felt, unstoppable, an inferiority complex towards his fellow citizens, especially those members of the ’golden pig’ club427. The highest aspiration will therefore become in a first phase being accepted into the Turku elite, obviously that of one's social group, that is, that of businessmen. These are the ’roaring seventies and eighties’, those of the wildest building speculation. Then the nineties arrive, and things begin to change. The national press, and especially the local environmental movement, denounces what is happening in Turku in terms of speculation, a building disaster, the imposition of an arrogant power based on the mixture of business and politics. The fall of Juhani Leppä, who, as we have seen, had brought Casagrande to some, important centers of city power, begins the descending parable of Benito as an architect, who now sees the use of culture as a new tool of power. At the same time, the second phase of his ascent can begin, which is to overcome old friends, conquering that “something more” that can distinguish him, namely the prestigious knighthood of Malta. While his old friends continue to hang out with each other, he can be invited to the castles of Scandinavian nobles, dine alongside princes and counts. The times of Amedeo are far away.

We must keep all this in mind to understand that otherwise unjustifiable, almost maniacal desire to show off, which goes from the naive providing of a personalized car plate428, to the display of one's titles, from that of Honorary Consul to that of Knight of Malta, or to that of doctor honoris causa429, to the exhibition of that chapel that he had built under his house, about which he never misses an opportunity to remember that he built, paid for and maintained it at his own expense and that it is the "only one" private church, as he was for years the "only" knight of Malta in Finland. The desire to be known in public as "the only Finnish knight of Malta" was in fact an obsession of ours. This is how Kristiina Ståhlberg titled her article dedicated to him: From altar boy to knight. The only Finnish knight of Malta lives in Turku. The writing begins with a sort of confession of repentance by the only knight of Malta in Finland: «Over the years I have begun to pay attention to the most important things. Observance of the values of Christian life has become important for me». Casagrande specifies that anyone can join the order, but there was some premonition as far as he is concerned: «I'm an old altar boy. Perhaps it helped to become part of the Order»430. The journalist also specifies the activity carried out by Casagrande in his capacity as Cavaliere: «as a member of the Casagrande order he distributes aid abroad431. In Turku he founded the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, which is located on Julin's land in the cellar of a commercial building. The Chapel is open every weekday from 9 to 17». on November 23, 1991 Benito and Irma celebrate the thirty years of their marriage with a Te Deum celebrated by Bishop Paul Verschuren which is followed, as stated in the Italian translation of the invitation, by a dinner in the Royal Hall and the "dance of the Knights". The feast, it is said, is organized "by the Finnish member of the Sovereign Order of Malta", "during which the family coat of arms will be blessed and used". The white tie and the uniform of the Order (ie his) are required. It will then be the Chapel's turn to be constantly remembered. This association between the Chapel and the Order of Malta has been underlined for years by Casagrande432, who had pointed out to the correspondent of the city newspaper Aamuset that the chapel had been built in memory of the 35th anniversary of his marriage and his fiftieth birthday, as well as to perform a chivalrous action as the only knight of Malta in Finland, giving those who wish to remain in meditation a suitable place433. The mention of «founder of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit which he manages together with Irma Casagrande» appears in his curriculum distributed on the occasion of interviews given to the press434.

In this way the jovial and likeable Benito, qualities that all recognize him, who could have played a really important role in the Italian community of Turku, representing its continuity with respect to the ancient and vitality with respect to modern reality, remains a prisoner of a role of almost paroxysmal protagonism, to which he is forced by the bad interpretation of a family history that is instead dignified and noble precisely because it is a mirror of the virtues of the emigrant who alone, with his own strength, manages to conquer a prominent place in the foreign society that welcomed him. Today Benito Casagrande is a distinguished gentleman in his seventies, of whom we continue to talk in the newspapers but with a different tone from that of the eighties, and this is his most important achievement435.

Casagrande is an excellent organizer; has simple and spontaneous ways. He is in all respects a pleasant person. The passing of the years has certainly played its role and undoubtedly the exit from the activities of the tycoons of Turku has its advantages, especially in terms of public image, even if its name always reminds many Turku people of the glories and collapses of the roaring seventies and Eighties, but by now a lot of water has passed under the (building) bridge of Pennisilta. For example, in the article that Anna Kortela wrote in December 2007 for the magazine of entrepreneurs of the province of Turku, the controversies related to the construction of Hansakortteli, the shopping center in the center of Turku, are mentioned, but those related to the ’Turku disease’ and the ’Turku mafia’. In reality, the reading of the character Casagrande does not pass so much through his architectural achievements, some even happy and successful, having brought a certain ’Italian’ spirit to these building complexes, such as the Hansa436 shopping center, but in the role he plays. He played as an exponent of that circle of people who for many years conditioned Turku's public and even political life. In fact, it is not true that Casagrande, as he himself declared in a 1992 interview, was, as an architect, only the executor of other people's projects437. In reality it was the engine and participated, together with others, in the transformations that have affected the city.

In short, Casagrande was much more than an architect: he actually represented the striking example of how the mixture of economic and political interests leads to the constitution of a super power that cancels the decision-making possibility of the citizen, who should be in any case and always able to assert their will through the democratic system. This group of power, which has remained substantially unchanged in Turku over the years, even if the names have changed, these speculators being gradually replaced by others who have continued their methods, therefore represents the prevarication of the right of the community for the benefit of the individual. A phenomenon that is still very current today, as can be seen from the project to build a large underground car park in the center, under the central market square, a project to which, it should be noted, Benito Casagrande is completely unrelated, while some of the his ’playmates’. The original characteristic of this congeries of finance and public power exponents is to be transversal with respect to the parties. In the second half of the Eighties, the writer witnessed, bewildered, the passage in the anteroom of the Casagrande studio, where he was amicably admitted, of the representatives of the municipal politics of the right as well as of the left. Casagrande after all, although labeled as a man of Kokoomus, has never openly made political propaganda. He had and has friends on both sides of the political spectrum, with the exception of the Greens, the only ones who did not have and do not have interests in common with him. The power of men like Casagrande is not based on corruption, at least that as we understand it in the deplorable Italian system, but on that network that is here called ’good brother’ (hyvä veli), that is, a friend who is always willing to lend a hand, a gesture that will then naturally be reciprocated. The favors are made between friends and Casagrande was very skilled in weaving this network of friendships, common conveniences, mutual interests, but always, we repeat, in the context of the law.

He courted the Italian ambassadors, taking them around Finland, receiving their unconditional support in exchange, he brought the mayor of Turku to Italy, he tied the representatives of the Catholic Church to himself, who always need architects for their churches and their convents, has entered academic circles through the Foundations it controls, receiving in exchange an honorary title that no other university would dream of granting for the merits attributed to it, has limited the damage to its public image thanks to connivance with the owner of the local newspaper. What remains in his personal history is, in conclusion, having been part of the group of people who represented the latest wave of that building speculation that accentuated the disfigurement of Turku, appearing however as an architect as a simple executor of the urban planning decisions of others, while that group of people shared the mentality, the methods of acting and the purposes. This is and has been Benito Casagrande, a man of our time.


REFERENCES

391 Latvakangas, 1992: 24.

392 Their activity began in 1969 with the architects studio B. Casagrande & Co. In 1988 Benito became the managing director of the limited partnership Casagrande & Haroma Oy, shareholders of which were, in addition to Benito Casagrande and Kari Haroma, Keijo Ketonen, owner between the other with brother Mikko of the daily Turun Sanomat, and Jukka Wihanto (Paaso 1993: 12). The latter is still today one of the main exponents of city finance and an irreducible building owner. He tried several times to demolish the so-called Café noir house and the Bassi house at the corner of the Turku market square (Kauppatori) to build an eleven-storey building in its place, which was then reduced to nine in the plans. These ancient buildings were saved by a decision of the TAR thanks to the intervention of the Meidän Turku / Vårt Åbo ry Company. Harri Lähteenmäki also had a close business relationship with Casagrande and Haroma's firm, who will later be involved in some of the scandals that will sweep away part of what the national press will love to define as the "Turku mafia". They are among the best-known representatives of that category of building owners and assault financiers who have contributed to disfigure the center of Turku since the 1980s. "Rakennusliikkeet olivat kaiken taustalla" (the construction firms were behind [all these decisions]) recalls Jouni Tervo (Tervo, 1992: 23), and cites the extreme ugliness of a city ruined in its urban aspect by these tycoons. In more recent times, the issue of Turku's architectural decay has been denounced by the television program Ruma Suomi (2010). Haroma had been a member of the municipal commission for the urban aspect (julkisivulautakunta) and Keijo Ketonen, childhood friend of Benito, who likes to remember that they played in the same "box of sand" as the one delegated to construction (rakennuslautakunta). As reported by Jukka Paaso (ibidem), architect of the Municipality of Turku and for a certain period the municipal councilor of the Greens, the municipal building commission granted one after the other the required building permits to the studio of Casagrande and Haroma. The leading Finnish weekly, Suomen Kuvalehti, had ironically explained the close bond that unites Casagrande to these powerful "godfathers" of Turku, recalling that the future architect was born "fifty years ago in the municipal hospital the same week in which two others were born who would be become the powerful characters of Turku, the builder Juhani Lundén and the publisher Keijo Ketonen ». And he continues: «thanks to a blood friendship formed over the years, the Casagrande studio, practically taking advantage of exclusive rights, has reformed the appearance of the city. The Hansa district, the new homes in Vartiovuori, the Ingman and Julin buildings, the Typhoon stadium and the Tervatori district bear his name "(Tervo, 1992: 26).

393 Paaso, 1993.

394 In fact, Jouni Tervo writes that «Casagrande is said to spend the same time in the care of business and social relations as he does for the actual design, which he had to delegate in his studio to other architects» (Tervo, 1992: 26).

395 In the 1980s Casagrande became the "court architect", as defined by Helsingin Sanomat, the largest newspaper in Finland, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, in reference to the privileged relationship that his architectural firm had established with public bodies of the city. This appellation of "court architect", explains the writer, is due to the fact that "in the eighties, those in which [Casagrande] reached the pinnacle of success, the Casagrande architect studio obtained almost all the works in the city" ( "Huippuaikanaan 1980-luvulla Casagranden arkkitehtitoimisto sai lähes kaikki kaupungin työt"; Lapintie, 1992).

396 Paaso, 1993: 13.

397 Leppä will have to resign on May 31, 1995 following financial scandals in which he is involved (the so-called Matintalo case) that will lead him to prison with a conviction for aggravated tax fraud. After serving his sentence, he will be re-elected city councilor, also in the Kokoomus party, and will become president in 2009 of the important commission of social services of the municipality. It is currently part of the Turku city council.

398 «Casagranden hallitseva asema arkkitehtinä Turussa perustuu paitsi hänen taitoihinsa ammattissaan myös hyvin valikoituneisiin kapalokavereihin», Lapintie, 1992.

399 A substantial part of that group of very influential people who controlled the economic life of the city in the past years was ascribed to Freemasonry. They are the usual "playmates". These children, once they grow up, will leave the shovel and the bucket to wear the apron of the Masonic lodge and then the cloak of the self-styled knightly order of the Templars, and Benito will follow them either for enthusiasm or for convenience, we cannot say, wearing the same apron. and the same cloak. The first mention of the Turku Freemasons in relation to the building speculation taking place in the city dates back to an article in the Helsingin Sanomat of 1981, in which we find the names of the Turku tychoons, among them the brothers Keijo and Mikko Ketonen, Juhani Salonen (l 'then Turku police chief), Jukka Vihanto, Keijo Kulha (director of Turun Sanomat), Heikki Hyssälä (leading exponent of the Kokoomus party) and of course Benito Casagrande (Kareinen, 1998: 3), to whom we must add the builder and financier Rauno Puolimatka and numerous exponents of the banking and academic world. At the beginning of the nineties the country's largest weekly, Suomen Kuvalehti, had opened its article on Turku and the "oddities" that characterized it with these words: «Everyone knows Turku. The egocentric, parochial, grumpy city. Mafia, political games, building blocks, Freemasons and clubs of gentlemen who matter. City of culture whose subject of pride is the TPS, the ice hockey team. The kindergarten where kids play, where everything is done as they say ». Casagrande's ascription to Freemasonry had been reiterated by Lasse Tuorila in his long reportage on "Turku disease" (the definition of Turun tauti becomes so common) in 1994. Thus the journalist opened his article: «In Turku there is the Masonic lodge Phoenix. It includes among others the head of the municipal office that presides over the master plan, Risto Tilus, the former president of the municipal council Hannu Ansas, the managing director Keijo Ketonen, the consul Jukka Vihanto, the former inspector of the building Simo Merimaa »and continues citing other authoritative representatives of the city economy, all very influential figures in the field of construction and procurement. It is said of Casagrande: "The" court architect "Benito Casagrande had been for a long time one of the most authoritative members of the aforementioned lodge, but he resigned some years ago" (Tuorila, 1994: 29.). The resignation was effectively given under pressure from the Catholic bishop of Helsinki, Paul Verschuren, who had recommended Benito to the Order of Malta, in fact it is forbidden for members of the Order to be part of Masonic lodges. Since part of these Freemason friends had entered the neo-Templar order called Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH), Casagrande will have to follow them here too. The activity of this chivalric-inspired society is perfectly legal and today it is present in many countries and has the status of observer at the UN; finances charitable works in Palestine. The ceremony of investiture of Benito Casagrande as “Templar Knight” took place on August 13, 1988 in the castle of Turku, see AA.VV., Non nobis Domine, 2006: 80; see also the photo that portrays him on the occasion of the investiture. Benito designed in 1989 the medal of merit granted by the Turku Priory of the same Templar order.

400 Matti Koivurinta (b. 1931), builder and merchant, became involved in complex real estate and banking transactions, culminating in what in Turku has been called the "night of the long knives", fought between tycoons and local banks, see Valtonen, 1997 : 26. Koivurinta has nevertheless exercised an important social function in Turku. In 1987 he created a foundation that bears his name, which bought the von Rettig Palace, transformed into the acclaimed Aboa vetus / ArsNova museum, which registered three million visitors until 2010 and was president of the foundation for prevention and cancer treatment from 1986 to 1999. In 1989 he was appointed honorary doctor of the Higher School of Economics and Commerce. Interested in chivalric orders, he introduced that of the Neotemplars to Finland (Enkvist, 2011: 21).

401 In 1992 in the weekly supplement of the Turun Sanomat Heli Impivaara writes that the Consul Benito Casagrande is not only the only Finnish knight of Malta, but, although young and not yet noble (?), He has joined the board of directors of the Scandinavian association ("Suomen ainoa Maltan ritari on konsuli Benito Casagrande. Vaikka hän onkin nuori ja vielä ei-aatelinen, hänet on valittu osaston kolmijäseniseen hallitukseen" (Impivaara, 1992: 12). Altar boy to knight. The only Finnish knight of Malta lives in Turku. The writing begins with a sort of confession of repentance by the only knight of Malta in Finland: "Over the years I have begun to pay attention to the most relevant things . Observance of the values ​​of Christian life has become important to me. ”Casagrande, who had just declared that anyone can join SMOM, soon betrays the exclusivity of his vocation, in fact he tells the journalist, that the members are of a high level, among them the king of Spain Juan Carlos, Rainier of Monaco and, being taken by the enthusiasm he does not have time to check, Queen Beatrice d 'Holland (head of the Protestant Church of his own country and therefore obviously unable to be part of it) as well as Silvio Berlusconi, who, fortunately, is a Knight, but not of Malta (Ståhlberg, 1994).

402 As the biographer, who titles this paragraph of his book Maltan ritarin kutsumus (the vocation of the knight of Malta), is keen to point out, “Benito Casagrande was called to join the Order of Malta in 1990 on the initiative of Bishop Paul Verschuren. In the years from 1992 to 1996 he was the only Finnish member of the Order "(Kalpa-Junttila, 1998: 81; this book is an update and adaptation of the volume that Harri Kalpa, also commissioned by Casagrande, had written in 1989 Ingman palace. Kalpa and Junttila's book was presented to the press in October 1998). The role of presenter of Bishop Paul Verschuren is understandable, in fact Casagrande had designed the convent and the room of the Brigidine nuns of Turku. In 1993 Casagrande donated a statue representing Santa Brigida to the Turku convent, located in the courtyard in front of the convent, and in 1994 he collaborated in the construction of the Carmelite convent of Espoo. He later carried out various consulting jobs as an architect for the parishes of Turku and Helsinki, as well as for the refurbishment of the Catholic cemetery and the home of the parish priest of Turku. Casagrande therefore has the merit of having substantially helped the Catholic diocese of Finland.

403 In this place the fourteenth-century hospice for the poor and the hospital were based; in 1588 the church began to be built there, never finished, demolished in 1659, see Kalpa, 1989: 11; 75 and Pyhän Hengen kappeli, 1994: 9-10. Santo Spirito was a name that in the Middle Ages was often given to hospitals.

404 In Kalpa-Junttila, 1998: 84-85 there is the Confession of Faith of the owners and managers of the Chapel, in which we thank the ancestors who ensured the well-being, as well as the independence of Finland, and then go on to thank humanity , friends, family and the Lord. Thus begins this declaration of Faith signed by Benito Casagrande: “In the beginning the Spirit of God moved over the waters, the Holy Spirit gave birth to faith and faith created the confession of faith. This newly consecrated chapel is the confession of faith and thanksgiving ”(Alussa Jumalan Henki liikkui vetten päällä, Pyhä Henki synnytti uskon ja usko loi tunnustuksen. Tämä largovihitty kappeli on uskontunnustus ja kiitos).

405 The news is reported by Turun Sanomat the following day under the title of Hautarauha puhutti Turussa, 4.8.1999.

406 «Me olemme vaimoni kanssa ajatelleet jäädä itsekin tänne näiden vainajien takuumieheksi, hän uskoutuu» (Miettunen, 1999).

407 Pyhän Hengen kappeli siunattiin, 1990: 10-11.

408 The problem had been where to keep the mortal remains of the deceased, whether in a museum (where they were first collected for examination), or in a cemetery or under the Casagrande apartment. The controversy, which lasted about twenty years, ended in the summer of 1999 with the final burial in the basement of the Casagrande's home.

409 Until 2004, the Fund therefore supported the Settentrione magazine with the profits from the capital deposited at the University Foundation (in 2004 the sum was 684 euros). The original purpose of the Irma and Benito Casagrande Fund was to contribute to the teaching of the Italian language and culture and to the study of Italian-Finnish relations. In 2005, the Irma and Benito Casagrande Fund, however subject to the regulations of the University Foundation, changed the term of the contribution, adding the promotion, through scholarships and funding, of the study of pedagogy and buildings of a historical nature, in substance, as regards the latter diction, by Casagrandentalo itself. In other words, the Casagrande Fund helped maintain Benito's own palace. The interest in pedagogy, actually quite far from the professional activity of an architect, is due to the fact that in May 2006 Benito Casagrande was appointed honorary doctor of the faculty of pedagogy of the University of Turku. In this regard, it is useful to remember that most of the protagonists of the "Turku disease", as well as various exponents of municipal politics, have had this honor over the years, attributed by the university (Turun yliopisto) or by the Higher School of Economics and Commerce (Turun kauppakorkeakoulu). They received the top hat and the sword, symbol of the PhD, Juhani Leppä, Matti Koivurinta, Jukka Wihanto and the Ketonen brothers, so it was logical that Casagrande's turn would also come. The proposal to nominate him was initially made in an unofficial form to the humanities faculty, which did not consider the merits of the candidate enoughi, but then accepted by the faculty of pedagogy for having overseen the construction work of the new seat of the faculty. The motivation for the appointment as honorary doctor is in fact: "in recognition of his creative activity on the board of directors of the University of Turku Foundation, which made possible the long-awaited construction of the pedagogy building of the faculty and for the his contribution for the architectural solutions concerning the image of the entire city of Turku ». Of course, one might wonder why not to reward the architect who designed the building, that is the designers of the Nurmela-Raimoranta-Tasa studio, as it would be logical to ask why the Vice President of the University Foundation is awarded, but it would be a idle question, indeed, purely ... academic. I can only add that the undersigned in the same alkalen ehdottaa instead as an honorary doctor the Dalai Lama, without his initiative having taken place. Dalai-laman todistaminen and the ole Benito Casagranden meritiitti.

410 Lönnrot, 1992. Renzo Porceddu (Cagliari 10.8.1925) deserves much more than the space we can dedicate to "contemporaries", in fact this refined poet in Italian, Sardinian and Finnish (he has received various awards for his literary activity), translator, lexicologist, teacher (he also taught a Sardinian language course at the University of Turku), sports journalist and trustee of the National Alpine Association in Finland, is, together with Bruno Tavan, the "historical memory" of the Italian community in Finland and beyond only in Helsinki. For many years he worked as economic-financial collaborator of the Embassy of Italy in Helsinki, receiving for his merits the Knighthood of the Order of the Star of Solidarity (1966). In 1990 he was granted that of Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland. He was a senior member of the Western Foreign Press club of Helsinki and of the International Press Association.

411 «Rolando Pieraccini is a publisher, bibliophile, collector from the Marche region, passionate about paper and living in Helsinki for thirty-five years. Thanks to his intense and refined publishing activity, Pieraccini has published many authors of Italian and world literature, including Nobel laureates, in precious volumes, sometimes accompanied by engravings by Italian or Finnish artists" (Bottai, 2010: 7). "A cultured and refined person" as defined by the online periodical La Rondine, he is the author of a fundamental Italian kirjallisuutta suomen kielellä 1801-2000, published in 2001, a repertoire of Finnish translations of Italian texts (www.larondine.fi; 4.2 .2008).

412 "Irma on lukenut monta kertaa Kantelettaren läpi ja saanut useita palkintojakin" (Rinne, 1992: 18).

413 It would be interesting to know where these volumes ended up, on whose real number we have divergent data.

414 Luovuttamalla Kantelettaren italiankielinen käännös Teille herra Tasavallan Presidentti, sekä lahjoittamalla välityksellänne kirjaistoille 324 kpl näitä kirjoja italialaisten luettavaksi. Haluamme näin myös osoittaa kunnioitustamme ja kiitostamme sukuni esivanhempien synnyinmaalle. Kantelettaressa yhtyy suomalainen ja italialainen kulttuuri samalla tavalla kuin perheessämme. Turussa 16.9.1993, Irma, Caterina, Cristina, Carolina ja Benito Casagrande

415 On the details of this transaction, in which the Municipality is also involved, see Heino, 1998. Relations with Rauno Puolimatka will spoil, reaching the break, when Casagrande will "blow" his friend the three buildings put up for sale by the Municipality on the bank of the Aura river, in the center. In September 2007, the Municipality of Turku decides to sell a complex of historical and artistic interest in Kauppiaskatu 1. Rauno Puolimatka offers to buy it for 750,000 euros (a sum that the public seems to be excessively modest), giving in compensation one million euro for the construction of the Pennisilta bridge, a sum to be paid on condition that the building is sold to him. The bridge would naturally be built in the vicinity of the building he intends to purchase, thereby greatly increasing its value. This proposal provokes lively reactions from public opinion. Other buyers come forward and offer larger sums. Benito Casagrande announces that he is willing to pay 2 million euros, but has not explained what use he intends to use for the building, which should mainly be used for cultural purposes. Casagrande and Puolimatka are now no longer partners, but competitors. On January 4, 2008, the press announced that the only offer received by the Municipality in anticipation of the public auction regarding the Kauppiaskatu building was precisely that of two million euros made by Casagrande and one of his partners (Rajala, 2008: 13 ; the sale of the building is so important that it deserves an article in the Turun Sanomat of 6.1.2008 Arvotalon ostointo hiipui). The building complex (actually three independent buildings) was restored and now houses restaurants, offices and an art gallery.

416 This stately home, known as early as the 16th century, was bought at the end of the 18th century by Gabriel von Bonsdorff, professor of medicine at the University of Turku. In 1967 it became the property of the City of Turku. In 2001 it was bought by the Finnish Cultural Heritage Foundation (Suomen Kulttuuriperinnön säätiö) thanks to the Anna and Signe von Bonsdorff Family Fund. This beautiful neoclassical style villa has become a center for cultural meetings, seminars and concerts.

417 «Liedon Vanhalinna-säätiön omarahoitusosuuden (35%) Turun Yliopistosäätiö antoi lainana. Sen takaisinmaksu perustuu asemakaavoituksen yhteydessä saatavaan rakennusoikeuteen» (Toimintakertomus vuodelta 2005: 5).

418 A profile of these two patrons is found in Salo, 2007: 60-64. For the history of the locality of Vanhalinna and the homonymous estate see Muurinen, 1956: 240-282.

419 Construction began in 2003, see Vismanen, 2002. When Casagrande presented the project in the late spring of 1999, he declared that the constructions needed to support the Foundation's new projects would be built by the Vanhalinna Foundation itself, that is, in fact, by Casagrande himself. The protest, born spontaneously to protect a milieu of great naturalistic and historical importance, will be partially accepted, and instead of 100 villas, half will be built. Meeting the inhabitants of the area, worried and angry at the prospect of seeing a pour of concrete arrive on their doorstep, Casagrande assured that the Foundation was not selling the land against the will of the Wanhalinna spouses who had donated it to the university. Eventually a compromise will be reached and the subdivision, albeit on a smaller scale, will take place with the 2002 master plan.

420 To tell the truth, the stereotype does not disappear, and Pyry Lapintie begins his article dedicated to Casagrande's 50th anniversary by stating that if the architect could build what he wants, "Turku muistuttaisi hyvin äkkiä jotain italialaista pizzeriakaupunkia kaikkine kujineen ja trattorioineen" (Lapintie, 1992).

421 In the play he imagines "en maffioso-liknande typ med slickat, svart hår" (a mafia-looking type with shiny black hair) who wants to tear down the old buildings of the city to "get some air" but also to "make money" (« Jag får fyrken och ger människor luft och ljus'). The text continues: «I have the dream of covering the Aura River with reinforced concrete and spreading asphalt over it. Since I need a new, beautiful and expensive studio, I thought of building it in Turku Castle ”(Bagerstam, 1989: 119). Casagrande, however, with a lot of spirit, attending the theatrical performance, goes away during the interval and returns with a bouquet of flowers for the actors, whom he will then invite to the "little Christmas" party of his architect's studio to give them a lecture on ' city building.

422 The real estate complex consisting of the Caribia thermal baths and congress center was sold by Ausade, of which Benito Casagrande (10% owner), Heikki Salmela, Rauno Puolimatka, Ari Salmivuori and Dennis Rafkin were shareholders to a Danish real estate investment company, the Property Group. Ausade bought the Ikituuri Convention Center from Turku City, which owned it, in 1997, transforming it into a very successful recreation center. According to the daily Turun Sanomat, the amount collected by the Turku financiers was not disclosed, it must still be considerable, in fact, before the recent financial crisis, real estate prices had soared in Turku due to the interest of foreign investors.

423 This studio, which in the initials of the name recalled the two partners Casagrande and Haroma, in 2004 will change its name after 35 years of existence, during which it was involved in about three thousand initiatives of various kinds. In 2003 it had a turnover of 1.3 million euros, employing 15 employees. Casagrande recalled the main achievements of the studio, which were the creation of the Hansa shopping center, the arrangement of Suurtori (the square of the Lutheran Cathedral), the buildings of Turku Science Park in Kupittaa, Turku-halli (the ice stadium) and the World Trade Center of Turku. He would still like to carry out a project: the city park along the banks of the Aura river (Turkki, 2004: 19).

424 He was appointed Vice Consul of Italy in 1985 and Honorary Consul in 1992 (http://fi.wikipedia.org.) Consequently his relations with the Italian Embassy in Finland are close, also in consideration of the fact that the legation is based in a building built and financially managed by Benito Casagrande and Rauno Puolimatka, a fact that at the time attracted the attention of the Helsinki press, also in relation to the clauses that governed the granting of the building permit, in the opinion of the major newspaper in the country not fully respected (Pasanen, 1994; a later news on the construction can also be found in Italian ja Brasilian lähetystöille talo Kaivopuistoon, Helsingin Sanomat, 26.10.1994). However, Helsinki is not Turku and the arrival of Casagrande and his partner in the capital is followed with some suspicion. On June 18, 1995, the local newspaper headlined: Turku Businessmen Now Invest in Helsinki Real Estate (Karvonen, 1995). «Puolimatka and Casagrande rent luxury apartments in Kaivopuisto in contrast to the master plan. The building used by Italy and Brazil [Puolimatka was honorary consul of this country] could only be for legation use - investors of different opinion "(Puolimatka ja Casagrande vuokraavat loistoasuntoja largoin asemakaavaa Kaivopuistossa Italian ja Brasilian käyttämä talo saisi olla vain lähetystökäytössä- sijoittajat eri mieltä). In practice, by renting a part of the building to the embassy, the rest was made available for the free market.

425 Bagerstam, 1989: 121-122.

426 «Ihmisellä ei voi olla kuin yksi isänmaa-Benito Casagrande sanoo vakavasti- Se toinen, Italia, on vain takaportti. Hyvä, rakas, läheinen takaportti» (Latvakangas, 1992: 24).

427 Roberto Tanzi-Albi, 1983: 100, refers to this sense of inferiority that especially distinguishes the first two generations of Italians.

428 Casagrande seems to be aware of this behavior, even if he believes that the criticisms are often due to envy. So he told a journalist: «In Finland, people of foreign origin are behaved with the" on / off "criterion. It is considered either a top or a zero. If I were tactically smart and didn't talk so much and didn't show off, I would have been less envious of ”(Korttela, 2007: 15). In this he is probably right, in fact his passion for showing off, either in person, or with his family, or with what he owns, has aroused widespread irony in Turku.

429 Benito Casagrande on his website declares to have been "nominated" honorary doctor. This is instead an honorary title that is "granted" and does not involve an "appointment". Also on his website, he declares to have received "various Italian honors". However, the entry dedicated to him in wikipedia (http://fi.wikipedia.org) reports (correctly) only the honor of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1993). He is also the Official Knight of the Order of Merit of the Lion of Finland, an honorary citizen of Saarenmaa in Estonia, he received the Europa Nostra medal in 2002 and that of Entrepreneur of the Year for the Turku region in 2003 and the Phoenix Medal of 'University of Turku (2003). In 2009 he received the Eurofacts Oy Lifetime Achievement Gold Badge and in 2011 with the Grand Commemorative Medal of the University of Turku Foundation, of which he was a member of the board from 1991 to 2010. He is captain of the reserve (promoted on 6.12.2001). As an architect, he recently relaunched the Vanha Suurtori Cultural Center refurbishment project. On this square, the oldest in Turku, Benito Casagrande, together with Professor Harri Andersson of the University of Turku, published a book in 2011: Kampus keskellä kaupunkia, whose purpose is also to remember the importance of the university for the development of the historic center of Turku and its surroundings (Kangasniemi, 2011: 4).

430 Ståhlberg, 1994.

431 What aid and which "foreign" it is we do not say.

432 An octagonal cross, symbol of the Order, has been inserted on the door of the Chapel.

433 Rinne, 1992: 18.

434 Vedi Korttela, 2007: 16.

435 See for example the article that appeared in the economic monthly of the Turku region, Mania, Korttela, 2007: 14-16.

436 After the bitter controversy that invested him for this project, which involved the destruction of some old buildings in the center, however, praise came as the center actually performs a very important function in the fabric of the city center.

437 Latvakangas, 1992: 24.