Teacher and Mayor

He was born in Sanremo on 10th May 1900 from Giacomo and Petronilla Moreno.

Belonging to a family of humble conditions, she attended the masterly institute. As soon as he obtained his master's license, at only 17 years old he was called to arms and took part in the war operations on the Italian front during the last months of the First World War.
After graduating from the magistral school in Genoa, he returned to Sanremo, where he began teaching in local primary schools with passion and competence, according to the principles of Catholic education in the parish environment.

At the same time as his teaching activity, he also took a keen interest in the political and social problems of the city, founding the Sanremo Section of the People's Party in 1920, and was actively involved in the apostolate through the foundation and presidency of the "San Giuseppe" Catholic Action Youth Club, at the Matuziana parish of the same name, in 1926.

After the dissolution of the Popular Party, he continued to work as a teacher and leader of Catholic Action, becoming, among other things, diocesan president of the "Men" section in 1937, and brother of St. Vincent. Recalled to arms in the Second World War, after the fall of the regime and the announcement of the armistice with the Allies, he resumed his political commitment directing the movement.
local Catholic and promoting the foundation of the first Matutian section of the DC in 1945.

On 15 April 1945, a few days before the Liberation, the Sanremo-based DC also formally joined the CLN, so that Asquasciati (battle name "Sascia") was appointed a member of the Committee as a representative of the DC, even though, for reasons of force majeure, he had not been able to take part in the CLN's activities during the conspiracy period.
On 27 April he became a member of the Provisional Government Council, again representing the DC, thus participating, together with the other members of the CLN, in the appointment of the socialist Adolfo Siffredi as the first mayor of Sanremo after the Liberation.

Elected municipal councillor in the administrative consultations of 24 March 1946, he assumed the position of councillor and deputy mayor during the Gismondi Administration from April 1947 to May 1951.
In the local elections of May 1951 he appeared on the Christian Democrat list, obtaining flattering personal success with 1403 preferences out of 21,841 voters. The new Council elected him mayor at that time at the head of a Council made up of the effective councillors Elena, Parodi, Cugge, Bronda, Gentilini and Morosetti, and the substitute councillors Carboni, Gaglio and Viale.
During the first months of his administration, the work was carried out, divided into six lots, for the arrangement of Piazza Colombo, which was then transformed into a large slab and used for several years as a car park in the upper part and a bus station in the lower one.
At the end of 1951 he appointed a commission to draw up a building regulation updated according to the latest trends in urban science, which could represent an embankment to the increasing number of buildings that were being built everywhere due to the lack of a master plan.
The final text of the regulation was finally finalised after two years of work and sent to the Ministry of Public Works in Rome, which would then return it to the Municipality on 1 April 1953, practically approved in all its parts.

In February 1953 its administration decided to twin Sanremo with the Danish city of Helsinore, the hometown of Hamlet.
The twinning ceremony, which at first it was preferred to call "brotherhood pact", was held in Denmark in the presence of the Danish authorities and some councillors and town councillors from Sanremo delegated by him to represent the Municipality.
In the meantime, the abnormal building development of the city continued unabated, favoured in every way by the Councillor for Public Works and Private Building Domenico Parodi, while the Administration Asquasciati fruit and vegetable market in place of the hill at the foot of Via Martiri della Libertà and the cable car costing a total of 800 million lire. Of considerable importance was also its action to guarantee an adequate water supply to the city with the Tenarda dam and childcare through the strengthening of the colony of San Romolo.
Faced with the disorderly proliferation of hundreds of new buildings, his Council was not able, however, to oppose a valid and adequate town-planning plan capable of countering this immense building growth, which led to the construction of dozens and dozens of palaces and condominiums in Via Martiri della Libertà, in Via Pietro Agosti, in the centre of the Marsaglia Park and in the Magnolias Park, still today a tangible sign of the massive building speculation that took place in Sanremo from the early fifties of the last century.

After the government's launch of the so-called "blue plan", which provided for substantial public funding for Italian ports, the mayor summoned the representatives of the bodies interested in the port area to the Town Hall, telling them that the Minister of the Cappa Merchant Navy had classified the Matuziano port of call among those of "considerable tourist interest".
On the basis of this recognition, the Undersecretary of Public Works then informed the Municipality of Sanremo that a total of 190 million lire had been allocated to carry out a first batch of works in the port area which included the extension of the west pier by at least 100 metres and the beach nourishment of a large part of the external reef,
In order to find the necessary funds to subsidise the work in the port area, he also promoted a popular subscription that raised more than ten million lire, in addition to the signatures of 2000 citizens interested in sponsoring the company.
In September 1955, the Maritime Works carried out the beach nourishment works on the cliff, while in the following months the SILBI company in Rome completed 100 metres of complete extension of the foundation to the out-of-water works and 100 metres of quay in the final part of the existing pier. In 1957 the same company finally extended the west pier by another 37 metres in accordance with the directives of the Ministry of Public Works, which had ordered the work to be carried out in all its parts for each of the lots.
On 8 March 1956, in the meantime, in the presence of the Minister of Transport Angelini, the bus station in Piazza Colombo was inaugurated after three years of work, an important public work strongly desired by Asquasciati and costing a total of 230 million lire. Thirteen days after the launch of the bus station, the town of Coldirodi, which until then depended on Ospedaletti, was annexed to the Municipality of Sanremo, thus becoming a new part of our city, in execution of the decree issued that same day by the President of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi.

In the following month of May a new round of local elections was held, which still saw a good affirmation of the DC, and in particular of Asquasciati, which obtained 3826 preferences, followed immediately after by the lawyer Nino Bobba, leader of an independent list called Campanile. This list had achieved considerable success with as many as nine town councillors elected against sixteen Christian Democrats and five Communists.
The attempt to reach an agreement between the independents of the Campanile and the Christian Democrats failed, the latter were forced to launch a minority junta composed only of members of their party and supported externally by Social Democrats and Missini, who had formed the Democratic Bloc.
On 27 June 1956 Asquasciati was confirmed mayor at the head of a council made up of Sebastiano Elena, as deputy mayor and councillor for Floriculture, Guido Pancotti for Public Works, Francesco Bronda for Hygiene and Health, Francesco Viale al Lavoro and Frazioni, Eraldo Cugge for Finance, Francesco Fusaro for Litigation, Giorgio Baldi for Heritage and Igino De Mori for Urban Police, while he took on the role of councillor for Tourism.
A few months later, however, the Social Democrats withdrew their external support to his junta, which still resisted until 25 July 1957, when a government reshuffle took place with the entry of the majority of the independent councillors of the Bell Tower. The resulting new Council, again chaired by Asquasciati as mayor, was composed of Guido Pancotti, deputy mayor and councillor for Public Works, Eraldo Cugge for Finance, Carlo Bensa for Litigation, Paride Goya for State Property and Tourist Equipment, Angelo Trovati all'Annona, Vincenzo De Mori for Traffic and Francesco Bronda for Hygiene.
Before the reshuffle, Adriano Morosetti, the councillor for Tourism, had unexpectedly resigned due to disagreement over the Council's decision to invest 18 million in the construction of an auditorium in the centre of Marsaglia Park.
During 1958, the relationship between the Christian Democrats and the Campanile was further broken, which, on the occasion of the annual budget, launched a real ultimatum asking to include in the document the practices concerning the flower market, the Empress baths, a different arrangement of the prisons of Santa Tecla.

In May '58 the Town Council, which was on an increasingly precarious basis, approved the project for the new flower market in the Carmelite Park in Corso Cavallotti, where, however, it would never be realised due to the opposition of those who wanted to safeguard the gardens.
The situation fell when, in March 1959, due to a series of disagreements with the majority and the independents of the Campanile, the Councillor for Heritage Giorgio Baldi resigned and so all the minority groups agreed with the councillors of the Campanile appointing the lawyer Carlo Bensa as the new mayor.

Just in those days Asquasciati was in Helsinore to take part in the celebrations for the twinning of Sanremo with the Danish town, and when he returned to the Town Hall he had to see how the mayor's seat had been practically taken away from him, but, despite everything, he did not resign.
On 23 August, however, he had to take note of the changed political situation in the city and make his mandate available to the City Council, which officially accepted his resignation.
After the local elections in November 1964, Asquasciati would return to the limelight when the Christian Democrats tried again to elect him as mayor, but, defeated by only twenty votes because of the "Swiss marksmen", he had to give up the office.

Returned to the municipal administration, a few years after, death caught him suddenly on 10 September 1969, when he held the position of Councillor for Public Education in the Viale Junta.

For his long teaching activity in primary schools, in 1958 he was also awarded a first class merit diploma with a gold medal.

Finally, the State Elementary School in via Panizzi in Sanremo was named after him.

(source: A.Gandolfo-Vite di Sanremesi Illustri)