This catalogue, on the cusp of safeguarding heritage and fostering research, aims to showcase on a national level, to experts and the public alike, artwork currently removed from its original context, emphasizing the importance of local culture in Italy's smaller towns and village, a heritage which is still underestimated, yet essential to collective identity.
This is the companion volume to the exhibition displaying a selection of the artwork and artistic craftwork currently in storage following the catastrophic earthquakes in 2016. Not a catalogue in the traditional sense, but rather a book restoring, in synthesis, the soul of these borderlands, a cultural melting pot, straddling the Lazio, Marche, Abruzzi and Umbria regions.
While Paolo Rumiz’ foreword narrates the spiritual and physical scars inflicted on these mountain landscapes, the essays which follow trace the architectural history of the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli and their historical and artistic development over centuries rich in artistic cross-fertilisation.
What emerges are splendid medieval churches embellished with polychrome sculptures, 15th century religious vessels that are masterpieces of the goldsmith’s art, artistically significant altarpieces and Baroque marvels, down to more modern early-20th century art.
The volume comes complete with an album of photographs taken by Paolo Rosselli.
