Bologna exhibition honors mayor Renato Zangheri on centenary

On the centenary of Renato Zangheri's birth, a new exhibition in Bologna titled "A misura d'uomo. Nella Bologna di Renato Zangheri" explores the legacy of the mayor who led the city from 1970 to 1983. Organized by the Centro Studi e Ricerche Renato Zangheri, Fondazione Duemila, and Associazione Culturale Enrico Berlinguer, the show avoids hagiography, focusing instead on Zangheri's concrete achievements: an integrated healthcare system before the national one, pioneering cultural institutions, and early recognition of LGBTQ+ rights—in 1981 Bologna assigned the Cassero as Italy's first public gay club. Curated by Walter Tega, Mauro Roda, and Francesco Ceccarelli, the exhibition features video interviews, archival posters, and AI-reproduced texts in Zangheri's voice. It highlights Bologna's progressive era under Zangheri, including the Clash concert in Piazza Maggiore, the founding of DAMS, the opening of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna (which hosted performances by Marina Abramović and Ulay, Gina Pane, Hermann Nitsch), and Carmelo Bene reciting Dante on the Torre degli Asinelli. Zangheri, a professor of economic history, was appointed by mayor Dozza in 1959 to a new cultural institutions department. He steered Bologna through the Italicus bombing, the 1977 unrest, and the 1980 Bologna station massacre (85 dead, 200 injured). After his mayoralty, he served as Communist Party leader in the Chamber of Deputies. The exhibition runs in Bologna.