Benefactress

On 18th March 1827, in Sanremo, from Giovanni and Maria Modena was born Petronilla Sapia, called Birona.

Animated by a very strong sense of charity and not having of her own what she would have liked to give to help children, the old, the unhappy, she knocked on the doors of all those whom she believed to give something and had clothes, food, medicines and money that she then distributed to those who needed it most.

But seeing that despite her good will and her continuous work, there were still many miseries to alleviate, she proposed to found an institute to collect her orphaned daughters, or abandoned and obtained a house from the City opened a kindergarten that at first with the name of "Institute of Providence" welcomed more than fifty girls and finally set up as a Moral Institution for the legacy Zeffiro Massa and transferred from the modest primitive seat in that great work, for those times, which could be built thanks to the donations of the comm. Giovanni Marsaglia.

She died in Sanremo on 24 January 1900.

The town council, in the meeting of February 8th 1901, dedicated to her the climb, where her house was located, between Via Palazzo and Piazza Alberto Nota which was previously called Salita Nota.

But two years later, the town council of socialist imprint, did not consider the Sapia worthy of remembrance and the name was replaced with that of Volturno.

After the fall of that administration on 22 February 1911, the Town Council restored the name of Salita Sapia Petronilla, which is the current name.

(source : Marco mauro)