DOORS OF MELLO

Posted byVirginia MerliniPosted inUncategorized
Madonna Shrine – found in Mello at the intersection of via Sant’Antoino and via Pozzo. The eroded image is still lovely and features an enthroned Madonna & Child with San Giuseppe on the left. It is common to augment the eroded imagery with images of Mary.

DOORS OF STRADA PROVINCIALE 6 – Walking to Mello!

A walk to Mello starts in Traona on the valley floor, meanders through the Contrada of Coffedo and continues along the via Provinciale – SP6 crossing the borders between frazione as they trace their confines across the face of the mountain.

Signs identifying the frazioni I walked through and one sign illustrative of the many lateral side roads one finds along the 8-kilometer passage.

On Sunday I walked from Traona to Mello along the local road. This post is dedicated to the doors I found along the 8-kilometer stroll up to Mello Centro at 681 meters above the Valtellina plain. The frescoes that I found and the views that I enjoyed making this passaggiata will be posted later in a much more complete presentation. For now, doors are the focus! Enjoy the photos!






I end this post with a spaventapasseri – a scarecrow – hung just outside a garden of corn. The doll is eerie-looking as it twists in the wind!

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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