Antonio Moscheni - Jesuit painter

Unique legacy of chapel frescoes in India

Antonio Moscheni made his own paint
using vegetable dye

The painter Antonio Moscheni, best known for the extraordinary frescoes he created in the chapel of St Aloysius College in Mangalore, India, was born on this day in 1854 in the town of Stezzano, near Bergamo in Lombardy.

St Aloysius, situated in the state of Karnataka in south-west India, was built by Italian Jesuit Missionaries in 1880 and the chapel added four years later.  A beautiful building, it would not look out of place in Rome and the Baroque extravagance of Moscheni's work, which adorns almost every available wall space and ceiling, makes it unique in India.

The chapel welcomes thousands of visitors each year simply to marvel at Moscheni's art for the vibrancy of the colours and the intricacy of the detail.

Scenes depicted include the life of St. Aloysius, who as the Italian aristocrat Aloysius Gonzaga became a Jesuit and was studying in Rome when he died at the age of just 23, having devoted himself to caring for the victims of an outbreak of plague.

The interior of the chapel at St Aloysius, painted in its
entirety by Moscheni in the space of two and a half years

Also painted are the Apostles, the lives of the Saints and the life of Jesus. The picture of Jesus with a group of children on the rear wall, opposite the main altar, is considered the best of Moscheni’s work.

The artist's skill enabled him to create the illusion of three dimensions, so that figures painted on flat walls, for example, appear at first glance to be statues.

Another interesting feature is the chapel floor, all of which is paved with stones brought from Bergamo which again creates the perception of three dimensions. Visitors at first can mistake the tiles for steps.

Remarkably, often hanging precariously from scaffolding, Moscheni painted the entire 829 square metres of surface area by himself, using paints he made using vegetable dyes, the project taking two and a half years.

The Jesuits were lucky that they had such a talented artist among their brethren.

The Chapel of the College of St Aloysius in Mangalore

Educated at the prestigious Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, where he studied with accomplished masters from whom he learned the most advanced techniques, he also spent a year in Rome studying the masterpieces of Michelangelo at the Vatican.

When he returned to Bergamo his ability was in great demand. He was commissioned by many churches in the city and the surrounding area and his work at the Sanctuary of Madonna dei Campi in his home town of Stezzano was particularly admired. He exhibited in Milan and Turin and had the prospect of a brilliant career ahead of him.

In 1889, at age 35, however, Moscheni turned his back on fame to enter the Society of Jesus, enrolling himself as a lay brother.

Yet it was not the end of his career as an artist.  Aware of his talents, his superiors wasted no time, once his novitiate was completed, in despatching him to Croatia and Albania to work on Jesuit churches, and on his return sending him to Piacenza and Modena.

The Villa Moscheni in Stezzano is a private house

He left for India in 1898 and expected to return to Italy once the St Aloysius project was finished, yet his reputation spread in India as it had at home.

He was asked to decorate the Hospital Chapel at Kankanady, as well as a local church and the Seminary of Mangalore before being invited to paint frescoes at the Holy Name Cathedral in Mumbai.

Moscheni moved from there to the Basilica of Santa Cruz at Fort Kochi, in the state of Kerala, at the personal invitation of the Bishop in 1905.  Sadly, Moscheni fell ill with dysentery while he was working there, although he battled against the illness with impressive fortitude and finished the job. He died in November 1905, four days before the consecration of the church, and is said to have been buried at the Carmelite Monastery in Manjummel.

Travel tips:

Stezzano, situated just outside Bergamo not far from the airport at Orio al Serio, marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Moscheni in 2005 when a bust created by a local sculptor, Learco Campana, was unveiled in the Biblioteca Comunale.  Moscheni's home in Stezzano, the Villa Moscheni, in Via Carrara Beroa, is in private ownership and has been fully renovated. The six-bedroom property, which includes some frescoes by Moscheni, has been on the market recently for €980,000.

The Sanctuary of Madonna dei Campi at Stezzano

Travel tips:

The historic centre of Stezzano is a fortified farming village of medieval origin that has changed little in appearance. It is mainly characterised by former farmhouses and four substantial 17th century villas - the Villa Zanchi, Villa Morlani, Villa Maffeis and Villa Moroni, which dominates the picturesque Piazza Libertà. The grand parish church of San Giovanni Battista is a short distance away in Piazza Dante. The Sanctuary of Madonna dei Campi can be found a little out of the centre, on the road towards Grumello del Piano.

More reading:

The Chapel in Padua that is home to Giotto's stunning frescoes

How the work of Tintoretto still adorns Venice

The mysterious death of Caravaggio

Also on this day:

1472: Birth of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino

(Picture credits: chapel interior by Vijay Bhat; chapel exterior by Haydn Blackley; Sanctuary of Madonna dei Campi by Luigi Chiesa; all via Wikimedia commons)



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Francis Marion Crawford – author

Novelist found inspiration while living in Sorrento

Francis Marion Crawford

The American writer Francis Marion Crawford was born on this day in 1854 in Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany.

A prolific novelist, Crawford became known for the vividness of his characterisations and the realism of his settings, many of which were places he had visited in Italy.

He chose to settle in later life in the coastal resort of Sorrento in Campania where he even had a street named after him, Corso Marion Crawford.

Crawford was the only son of the American sculptor, Thomas Crawford. He spent his childhood going backwards and forwards between Italy and America and studied at various American and European Universities.

He spent some time in India where he found the inspiration for his first successful novel, Mr Isaacs, which was published in 1882.

In 1883 he returned to Italy to settle there permanently. He lived at the Hotel Cocumella in the village of Sant’Agnello just outside Sorrento to begin with. He then bought a nearby farmhouse, from which he developed the Villa Crawford, an impressive clifftop residence easily identifiable from the sea by the tall buttresses Crawford added as a safeguard against erosion.

The Villa Crawford, now a guesthouse, has a prime
position overlooking the Bay of Naples

He was married to Elizabeth Christophers Berdan, daughter of the American Civil War General, Hiram Berdan. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom became a nun and lived at the Villa Crawford when it became a convent after her father's death.

The Villa, which was donated to the order of the Daughters of Maria Ausiliatrice, has recently been refurbished as a guesthouse.

Many of his later novels have Italian settings, such as Don Orsino, published in 1892, which is about the effects of social change on an Italian family.

His novels sold in thousands in the United States, gaining him fame and prestige as a writer.  He would often return to America to deliver lectures on Italian history, about which he wrote several books.

He died at the Villa Crawford after suffering a heart attack in 1909.  He was buried in the cemetery of Sant'Agnello.

Travel tip:

Bagni di Lucca, where Crawford was born, is a small town in Tuscany that became popular during the 19th century because of its thermal springs. For a while the town was the summer resort of Napoleon and his court and a casino and dance hall were built there. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband, Robert Browning, spent their summers in Bagni di Lucca during their time in Italy in the 1840s and 1850s.

The entrance to the Grand Hotel Cocumella in Sant'Agnello,
where Crawford lived before buying his clifftop villa nearby

Travel tip:

The Corso Marion Crawford in the seaside resort of Sant’Agnello leads down to the sea from Corso Italia, the main road connecting Sant’Agnello with the resort of Sorrento. The historic Hotel Cocumella, where Crawford stayed during the 1880s, is in Via Cocumella, just off Corso Marion Crawford.

More reading:

Lady Blessington's Neapolitan Journals

Torquato Tasso - Sorrento's Renaissance poet


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Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Prayers are followed by bonfires and feasting

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on this day throughout Italy every year.

Christmas tree in Salerno
lit up for the festivities
Photo: Soloxsalerno (CC BY-SA 3.0)

It is a public holiday everywhere, when banks and offices are closed, special masses take place in the churches and people celebrate the start of Christmas.

It is an official festa in the Christian calendar, when the immaculate conception of Jesus is celebrated. The day commemorates Mary, the mother of Jesus, being given the grace of God to live a life ‘free of sin.’

Many people attend Mass and the Pope leads the celebrations from Rome.

The day was officially declared a festa by the Vatican in 1854.

It marks the official start of the Christmas season in Italy, when the lights and trimmings go up.

The shops are open and do a brisk trade, with many people not at work taking the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping.

Bonfires are lit in some parts of Italy and the different areas celebrate with their own traditional food and wine.

Travel tip:

Since 1953, the Pope has visited the Column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza Mignanelli in Rome on 8 December and laid flowers at the base of this monument to the Virgin Mary.

Christmas market in Piazza Navona
Photo: Mitravabanerjee [CC BY-SA 3.0)

Travel tip:

A big Christmas market is held every year in Piazza Navona in the centre of Rome, running until Epiphany on 6 January. The stalls sell Christmas decorations and gifts, nativity figures, traditional food, roasted chestnuts and hot wine.



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Pope Benedict XV

Humanitarian pope who tried to stop the war 

Pope Benedict XV's papacy lasted from
1914 until his death in 1922

Pope Benedict XV, who was pontiff for the whole of the First World War, was born on this day in 1854 in Genoa.

He tried to stop the war, which he described as ‘the suicide of a civilised Europe’, but when his attempts failed, he devoted himself to trying to alleviate the suffering.

Christened Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, the future Pope Benedict XV was encouraged to study law by his family and attended the University of Genoa. Afterwards his father reluctantly agreed to let him study for the priesthood and he was allowed to move to Rome.

Pope Pius X made him Archbishop of Bologna in 1907 and a Cardinal in 1914.

He became Pope Benedict (Benedetto) XV in September 1914 after World War One was already under way.

The new Pope immediately tried to mediate to achieve a peaceful settlement but his attempts were rejected by all the parties involved.

He then concentrated on humanitarian works, such as the exchange of wounded prisoners of war and the distribution of food among starving people.

Although Benedict had been chosen at the age of 59 because the church was looking for a long-lasting Pope, he died in Rome in 1922 after becoming ill with pneumonia and was buried under St Peter’s Basilica.

Benedict XV is possibly the least-remembered  pope of the 20th century as he was to be overshadowed by his successors, Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II.

Travel tip:

The birthplace of Pope Benedict XV was Genoa, ‘la Superba’, the capital of the region of Liguria and the sixth largest city in Italy. It has a rich maritime history, but still has a busy port and there is plenty to see and do. Genoa has been called a ‘city of contrasts’, with splendid palaces standing next to humble alleyways.

The Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, where Benedict XV was
previously archbishop for seven years

Travel tip:

Pope Benedict XV was Archbishop of Bologna from 1907 to 1914.   Bologna, with its iconic two towers (due torri), is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region and is home to the oldest university in the world. The famous meat sauce known as ragù bolognese, which is served with tagliatelle, or more often outside Italy with spaghetti, was invented there.

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