L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS W h e n w e t h i n k o f sculpture a n d architec- ture in Italy, we think of Carrara, the main source of the marble that was the material of choice for Ital- ian sculpture's great works, and the stone adorning the i n t e r i o r s a n d f a ç a d e s o f Italy's palaces and cathe- drals. When we visit Flo- rence and pass by Filippo Brunelleschi's Basilica of San Lorenzo - the parish of the Medici family - and look up at its unfinished façade, we can feel the absence of Michelangelo's great marble f a ç a d e , w h i c h h e h a d designed for the basilica. Its piazza was once strewn with large blocks of Carrara mar- ble. Alas, the pope called him to Rome, and in time other artists and masons scav- enged his marble for their sculptures and buildings. However, when traveling in the Italian countryside and mountain regions, the careful traveler will notice in the small chapels of those s e l d o m v i s i t e d v i l l a g e s wood-carved crucifixes a n d i m a g e s o f s a i n t s . L a c k i n g t h e f u n d s f o r expensive marble or with- out skilled artisans trained in those famous workshops in larger Italian towns and cities, village elders hired local artists to carve wood images of the Madonna or the village's patron saint to adorn their chapels. More- over, these works are often unsigned, a mute testimony to an artisanship nearly for- gotten now. In the larger Italian cities, we don't often think of wood as a source f o r a r t , e s p e c i a l l y i n Baroque Rome. B u t t h e r e i s o n e o u t - standing example not only of contemporary artisan- ship in wood but of high art a n d c r e a t i v i t y , b e f i t t i n g Rome's most outstanding w o r k s , k e p t i n m u s e u m s and churches. Ferdinando Codognotto has been cre- ating works of art in wood f o r m o r e t h a n s e v e n d e c a d e s . H i s s t u d i o a n d gallery are hidden in plain sight in the middle of Rome, on Via dei Pianellari, just steps from Piazza Navona and from Palazzo Altemps' renowned collection. On a n y a f t e r n o o n h e c a n b e seen sitting in the doorway of his cluttered studio where he cordially greets visitors a n d p a s s e r s b y . H e i s a n artist of infinite generosity a n d f r i e n d l i n e s s , w h o i s willing to speak with any admirer of his art. B u t l e s t w e t h i n k t h a t Codognotto is a hidden trea- sure, a visit to his studio reveals numerous articles attached to the walls show- ing that he has been hon- ored by popes, prime minis- ters, presidents, and famous actors who have collected his work. In their online a r t i c l e o n C o d o g n o t t o , Continued to page 6 Ferdinando Codognotto: a Roman treasure Artist Ferdinando Codognotto poses in his Roman workshop (Photo: Carole Scambray) KEN SCAMBRAY M i c h e l e A n t o n e l l i a n d Jacopo Vergari tell us that in 2015 the Fondazione Ferdinando and Luigina Codognotto was founded. Some of his most dramatic and largest works are in the gallery just steps away from his studio on Via dei Pianel- lari, where any visitor can enter. He is happy to give a tour when he is available. Vergari and Antonelli tell us that Codognotto chose wood because it was readily avail- able, unlike the far more expensive marble. With wood as his medi- u m , C o d o g n o t t o j o i n s a time-honored tradition in Italy. It has been the source of artisan and artistic cre- ations for centuries. In July, L ' I t a l o - A m e r i c a n o p u b - l i s h e d a n a r t i c l e b y Francesca Bezzone on the remèri, the makers of the wood oarlocks on Venetian gondolas sculpted by only a h a n d f u l o f t h e m i n t h e i r Venetian workshops: among them Saverio Pastor, who was interviewed. Art enthu- siasts worldwide now collect Pastor's creative designs of this essential element on gondolas. From Palermo to Milan, v i l l a g e c h u r c h e s d i s p l a y wood crucifixes in a variety of shades, depending on the wood they had at hand, that go from the starkly realistic t o t h e a b s t r a c t . A m o n g Giotto's wood crosses, the most famous perhaps hangs in the nave of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Just on the other side of the Arno, in a side chapel of Santo S p i r i t o h a n g s t h e l e a s t known, and perhaps most controversial, of them all: a delicately carved crucifix purportedly sculpted by a young Michelangelo. In the Christmas issue of L'Italo- A m e r i c a n o , B a r b a r a Minafra explained the rich artisan tradition represent- ed by the artists who made the wood Presepe displayed this year in Saint Peter's

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