ALBAREDO PER SAN MARCO – via San Marco – Wall Madonna this is the only fresco I have encountered where Jesus touches his mother. I love how he cups her chin in his hand. This was the vision of the original artist. This is why art can still be unique even as it exists within the boundaries of the society and the person who paid for the fresco.
Yesterday I searched for Wall Madonna’s in three frazioni of Morbegno on SP8 – the Strada Proviciale that leads to the Passo San Marco. In Albaredo per San Marco I found a fresco in a context which crystallized for me my passion for this art that is its own language. So – for your pleasure and because this is why I find my search for Wall Madonna’s so compelling I offer you one Wall Madonna and this narrative: In the center of Albaredo is the parish church – the Chiesa di San Rocco. To the left of the church is the old cobble-stoned street – via San Marco – that leads through the village and continues into the mountains and to the Passo San Marco. On this street are two houses where one can encounter three Wall Madonna’s all keeping company with each other.
ALBAREDO PER SAN MARCO – via San Marco – three Wall Madonna’s
Two of the frescoes face the street but one does not. Hence, I walked down some stairs onto private property – a narrow sidewalk in front of a house that was below the street and almost abutting it – in order to get a straight-on photo of that Wall Madonna.
ALBAREDO PER SAN MARCO – via San Marco – two Wall Madonna’s face the street
At the far end of the walkway, situated under a hand-built shelter was an overstuffed chair that had – because of its location – no other purpose than to allow the owner to gaze at the Wall Madonna in comfort! Turned sideways the chair would allow the lounger to fill his or her eyes with the green slopes of the mountains that rise up from the Valle del Bitto di Gerola.
ALBAREDO PER SAN MARCO – via San Marco – the over-stuffed chair with a singular view
This Wall Madonna was the preferred view in a town where there are only views of the beautiful mountains. How could one not be passionate about frescoes so adored by their owners!
ALBAREDO PER SAN MARCO – via San Marco – Wall Madonna
Wall Madonna’s are a language and these cherished frescoes voice the hope, love, devotion, and memory of the local people.Poorly executed, badly restored, eroded, or pristine – Wall Madonna’s are precious to those who own them. And this public art that speaks their faith is shared with all of us and is, thus, for us, too. How could one not be moved!
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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Wall Madonna's of the Valtellina 