It is a rainy day and I have been driving past this Wall Madonna for months now. It is on a busy road – SS340dir – which connects to SS36 and leads from Nuova Olonio to the Ponte del Passo – the bridge over the River Mera at the northernmost end of Lake Como. In order take the photo I had to park on a nearby road and walk back for a photograph.
The home is being renovated and the fresco is being preserved. This is a Sacra Famiglia and there are two saints – John the Baptist on the left and St Catherine of Siena on the right. The Wall Madonna was paid for Giovanni de Simoni and his sons Vincenzo and Domenico (this is my best guess based on what I can read from the fresco dedication).
I did some research and found that there was a Giovanni De Simoni from the Valtellina who was born in 1913 and was a mountaineer. De Simoni was a well-known author and a champion of the Alpine culture of the Valtellina. He died in 1988. He is an interesting figure and I have copied a portion of a Google translated article below and the link to the original. A right-click gives you access to the translating function. The history of the fresco makes it so much more interesting! I am so delighted that I found this fabulous piece of Valtellina history!
From the article: “Giovanni De Simoni, originally from Valtellina, always Milanese, born in 1913, was an excellent mountaineer of the 1930s, climber of numerous absolute firsts and climbing partner especially of the legendary and unforgotten Agostino Parravicini. The theater of the new ascents was above all a short stretch of the Alpine arc between the Spluga Pass and the Bernina Pass. The truest and closest Retiche to the heart of Lombard mountaineers, the mountains of Val Masino and Val Malenco.
And one place in particular was in the heart of De Simoni, the romantic Chiareggio, the last Malenco village before the Muretto Pass, at the foot of the Cima di Vazzeda…. “
https://lavocedellecime.blogspot.com/2017/11/giovanni-de-simoni-e-la-rezia-curiense.html
Wall Madonna's of the Valtellina 