For a Snow White who loses her 7 dwarfs in the cinema, swept away by the ‘cancel culture’, another finds them in great shape at the Niguarda hospital in Milan. They are not flesh-and-blood actors, but statues that have become a real institution over time. With a utility that goes beyond their status as ornaments. They have always peeped out in front of the former boarding school and the hospital’s nursing degree course (here the photo gallery). So much so that over the years they have become a point of reference for orientation in the ‘city-hospital’: “Go ahead and after the dwarfs, turn right”, is the typical phrase, which many of those who have passed through the avenues of the Niguarda remember , but above all the nurses who studied in that school, spending hours with books in hand, sitting near the colored statuettes.
“Some say they arrived first, Snow White and the 7 dwarfs, and then the hospital was built around it”, they say from the health facility. Over the years, however, those midgets had lost a bit of their edge. Having been there for an indefinite and infinite time, exposed to the elements, they looked a little aged. Until a few months ago, when a benefactor – as in any self-respecting fairy tale – decided to give them a chance, in an era of mixed fortunes for these characters so loved by children. Indeed, definitely a ‘no moment’. After the raging controversy around the remake operation that will bring Disney’s new Snow White film to the big screen, the ax of ‘politically correct’ has fallen on them – but also on the prince. Alongside the modern cinematic Snow White, daughter of the ‘melting pot’, which combines beauty and Polish and Colombian origins, there will now be 7 magical creatures. The prince, on the other hand, is cut off because the protagonist, a woman aware of her means, has no need of him, she saves herself.
Even in the modern tale of Niguarda, a woman takes on the role of the hero – who saves the 7 dwarfs. To be precise, a mother who passed by there every week to accompany her child for therapies, and noticing them a little peeling, decided to give him a ‘complete facelift’. While waiting for her son to finish the treatments, she stood there with paints and brushes, painting them by hand. An employee of the hospital also came to help her, who every day saw her intent on coloring. Once the restoration is complete, the small ‘promontory’ that houses them and from which they watch over the hospital has also been arranged.
The historical memory of the connoisseurs of the hospital draws anecdotes from the past that testify to the affection that has surrounded the ‘plaster gang’ over time, fruit of the imagination and pen of the Grimm brothers. There are still those who remember, for example, Sister Giuseppina, who in the early 1970s went to get the statuettes in winter, covered them and kept them safe and warm in a room until the following spring.
Today Snow White and the 7 dwarfs of Niguarda have returned to receive loving care. And, refurbished, they continue to brighten the sight of passers-by. Continuing the road “after the dwarfs”, it is also possible to come across 7 horses, real this time: their names are Adelina, Giove, Birbante, Jamaica, Fly Lady, Winter and Boccetta. Apparently unusual encounters for being in a hospital. But there is an explanation: horse sweets are the backbone of the Equestrian Rehabilitation Centre, “the only one present in a public hospital”. A center where horse assisted therapy is used for patients with physical, neuro and psychomotor, cognitive, emotional and relational disorders.
The list of the ‘animal inhabitants’ of the Niguarda could go on and on: from the peacock with a star-like temperament baptized Diego (from the ‘identity card’ published on the website of the Equestrian Rehabilitation Center), to the geese Ducky and Guendalina, from Teo the kid up to the ducks with their ducklings.
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