After more than eighty years, the church of San Cristoforo alla Certosa in Ferrara is once again home to TheApparition of Saint Bruno to Roger, Count of Sicily before the Battle of Capua, a monumental painting by Giuseppe Avanzi (1646-1718) measuring more than thirty square meters. The work, made between 1695 and 1696 for the chancel of the monastic complex, had been invisible since 1944, when bombing caused the church’s domes to collapse.
Although the canvas had survived the explosion, it had suffered considerable damage during the reconstruction work: removed from the frame and rolled up without protection, it had been stored for decades in precarious conditions, with serious consequences in the portions that came into contact with the ground. A first recovery operation dates back to the 1960s, followed by a long storage at the Nonfarmale restoration workshop in San Lazzaro di Savena. The work’s return to Ferrara is made possible thanks to a project by the Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio for the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara and a complex handling and relocation operation financed by the city. The restoration, entrusted to Laboratorio Nonfarmale, finally returns a work of great historical and artistic value to the city.
“After eighty years, we are able to return an extraordinarily valuable masterpiece to the city,” says Marco Gulinelli, Councillor for Culture. “Giuseppe Avanzi’s work not only enriches Ferrara’s heritage, but also represents the conclusion of a path of recovery that began in 2023 with the relocation of the first canvas: from next week, we will be able to admire both monumental works together again in their original location, a result made possible thanks to the fruitful collaboration between the institutions, which demonstrates how fundamental it is to work in synergy for the protection and enhancement of our extraordinary cultural heritage.”
The canvas is the pendant of theApparition of the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter to the companions of St. Brunone, already relocated to the church in 2023 thanks to the support of the Cultural Heritage Service of the Emilia-Romagna Region. Both works, which survived the Napoleonic confiscations, became part of the municipal heritage in 1812. The public will be able to follow the return of the work through various initiatives: on Feb. 17 and 18, the unrolling and mounting of the frame will take place; on Feb. 19 there will be a presentation to the city with free admission, followed by free guided tours by museum conservators until Feb. 28, by reservation only. On Feb. 24 and 25, the canvas will be hung on the wall, while the celebration of Holy Mass with the Archbishop of Ferrara Archbishop Perego is scheduled for March 1 at 10 a.m.
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| Ferrara, after 80 years the Apparition of St. Bruno by Giuseppe Avanzi returns to San Cristoforo |
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