UPDATE ON MY SEARCH FOR THE FRESCOES OF FRANCESCO AMBROSIONE

Posted byVirginia MerliniPosted inUncategorized
FUSINE – via Pessolo – Fresco by Francesco Ambrosione – 17th- century

UPDATE on my search for the frescoes of Francesco Ambrosione! In Academia this would be called a ‘Research Report’ so if you are interested – read on. I was pretty long-winded here – sorry.

I have been searching for the fourth 17th-century fresco of Francesco Ambrosione that a source I found claimed was located in Castione Adevenno. The Lombardian cultural site housing photos of his work did not identify the location of two of the four frescoes they feature. The researcher identified two in Caiolo giving the address of one. I found the first and the second through hard work and determination – one fresco on the back of someone’s home and the other fresco on the side of a home outside the confines of the historic center with its back to the mountain and the fresco facing the ancient Oratorio di San Pietro.

Then a friend sent me a link to an article that mentioned Ambrosione had painted a fresco in Fusine – I found it – outside the city center on the side of a home with its back to the mountain and a mule track into the alpine meadows and its other side next to a torrente. The street it is on – via Pessolo – is listed as via ValMadre on some maps and via Pessolo on others.

Another source – that I found in my internet searches on Ambrosione – mentioned a fresco in Castione Adevenno. Since this was the only clue I had to the fourth fresco, I decided to search Castione while waiting to hear from the Lombardian cultural site.

Because Castione Andevenno is spread out into 16 frazioni, I have been looking in them for a week to no avail. Part of the task includes trying to figure out which frazione are most likely to have intact or partially intact homes from the 17th-century. Generally, those homes are up the mountainside and/or clustered around the original parish church. The problem with Castione is simply the area I have to cover and the fact that the older homes in the frazioni are fused together like honeycombs crafted by bees on LSD. From a distance the ‘city’ looks like a handful of confetti that was tossed onto the landscape and wafted around coming to rest in small clumps and pieces on the plains of the Adda River and across the mountain face – drifting all the way to the very top of the pre-alpine ridge.

So – I wrote to the Lombardian cultural site that published on the internet an extensive alphabetical list of Lombardian artists from all time periods offering at least one example of his or her work. A few days later my email was forwarded to the researcher who collected the photos of the frescoes. That person then forwarded my email to someone else and today I heard from that other official who works in Sondrio for the Servizio Cultura e Servizi Sociali – Culture and Social Services Service. The gentleman told me:

  1. The information on their website was collected 20 years ago. This is likely why the one address in Caiolo that was given was so inaccurate – numbers in old towns here are in no discernable order – or no order that makes sense to an American used to the regularity of the numbering on US streets. Renovation can result in a new number on a home.
  2. The fourth Ambrosione fresco is located in the frazione of Vendolo. My Wall Madonna radar was working! Vendolo was the first frazione that I searched on my first day in Castione Andevenno! It was here that I found three Wall Madonna’s. There are two spots in Vendolo I did not search. One is above the cascade there – I started walking up the steep road to look but the sign – Strada Privata – stopped me. However, I will go back and ‘invade’. The other spot is the back of the farmhouses that are nestled against the mountains. I have to walk in ‘private’ backyards to look. But I will – on Monday – not the weekend when people are likely home. I am going to find that fresco!
  3. The official is going to do more research for me and tell me exactly where in Vendolo the fresco is located – if I desire the further information. I DO desire it! Needless to say I am very excited – to know that the source I located was correct – to know that I actually looked in the right place – and as I posited – walked right by it! – and to know that I am going to have the exact location next week – or perhaps another ‘bad’ address. Regardless, I am ‘on top of the moon’!!!

Anyway – here are the three Ambrosione frescoes that I did find and the three frescoes from Vendolo – the first frazione I searched even before searching in the city center! I am feeling really lucky!

I hope you enjoy the Wall Madonna’s!

CAIOLO ALTO- via de Giacomi – Wall Madonna – a Sacra Familia – painted in 1670 by Francesco Ambrosione
CAIOLO ALTO- via de Giacomi – Wall Madonna – a Sacra Familia – painted in 1670 by Francesco Ambrosione – This is the full view of the location and home
CAIOLO -ALTO – via de Giacomi – Wall Madonna – Madonna of the Rosary with Child between San Lorenzo on the left and Sant’Antonio di Padova on the right. This fresco is obscured by a new roof that was added to the terrace over the back entrance to the home. A full photo of the home is difficult since this is in a narrow alley in a double row of old houses.
FUSINE – via Pessolo – Wall Madonna – Madonna and Child with a young John the Baptist kissing the hand of Jesus – painted circa 1670 by Francesco Ambrosione
FUSINE – via Pessolo – Wall Madonna – Madonna and Child with a young John the Baptist kissing the hand of Jesus – painted circa 1670 by Francesco Ambrosione. This is a frontal view of the home. The fresco is visible to the left.
VENDOLO – frazione of Castione Andevenno – these are three Wall Madonna’s that I found in Vendolo. They are not attributable to a known artist. One is quite eroded with only very faded imagery remaining. The other two seem to have been restored with the one on the upper right suffering signifcant damage to the original artwork in the restoration.

Published by Virginia Merlini

I am a retired academic - a sociologist, sociolinguist, ethnographer, and photo-ethnographer. I am building this website and blog to share my passion for the public and private art of Italy. My main focus is on the Wall Madonna. The concept ‘Wall Madonna’ is my own. It is the name I give to the art found on the external walls of many of the homes of the locals which depicts Mary – the woman called Theotokos – God-bearer. I use Wall Madonna to refer to those images frescoed on the outside of homes and public buildings, or the paintings, carvings and statuary attached to the same. My intent is to examine Wall Madonna’s as a type of visual language and gesture in order to come to an understanding of their function and purpose in Italian social life. In searching for Wall Madonna’s I try to present a broader harvest of my quest so that the towns and cities I visit are frescoed for the reader in my blogs. Therefore, I like to include streetscapes, doors – which have a language of their own, vistas, and the life of the people as reflected in the things one sees as one peruses a town. Because my family is from the Valtellina and because the valley is lush and beautiful and steeped in history - and an abundance of Wall Madonna’s – I have a small home here. I love the Valtellina. I hope my photos capture your attention. There is no greater joy than sharing this art with others.

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