«Difeso… con ogni mezzo sul suolo patrio». Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle and the protection of Parma’s artistic and cultural heritage inside the Castle of Torrechiara

Abstract

The aim of the article is to investigate the role played by the Superintendent and art historian Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle (1894-1967) for the protection of Parma’s and Piacenza’s cultural heritage inside the Castle of Torrechiara, in Langhirano, during the Second World War. The article elaborates and deepens some results of the research conducted during my master’s thesis, starting from the archival sources preserved in Parma’s Library of the National Gallery, in the Monumental Complex of Pilotta. The first paragraph analyses the activities of the Superintendent at the Regia Galleria, then, the second one focuses on the development of the shelter established inside the Castle, for the protection of the artistic heritage of the province. Finally, the last paragraph explores the actions taken by Quintavalle’s “human capital”, that is, his employees, through a technical-logistical reconstruction of the events that occurred in Langhirano.