L'Italo-Americano

N ot everything in Lecce, one of Italy's capi- t a l s o f B a r o q u e , i s what it seems… You enter i n t o o n e o f i t s b e a u t i f u l churches, your eyes adjust to the light, and there they are: saints, Madonnas, crucifixes, all grandiose and somehow dramatic, standing in side c h a p e l s o r a b o v e a l t a r s . Nothing about them suggests fragility. O n l y l a t e r , s o m e t i m e s after someone points it out, you learn many of those stat- ues are made of paper. Yes, paper or, to be more precise, papier-mâché, known in Italy as cartapesta. The use of cartapesta in baroque plastic arts is, in fact, a little-known tradition, largely because the quality of the work is so high that no one notices they are not look- i n g a t s t o n e o r w o o d e n works; but for centuries, it has been part of Lecce's visu- al landscape. T h e c r a f t b e g a n t o t a k e shape in the seventeenth a n d e i g h t e e n t h c e n - t u r i e s , w h e n L e c c e w a s expanding rapidly as a reli- gious center: churches, con- vents, and confraternities multiplied, and with them c a m e a c o n s t a n t n e e d f o r statues, but wood and marble were expensive and slow to work with, and many institu- tions simply could not afford them. Cartapesta offered an a n s w e r t o t h e i r n e e d s , because it allowed to produce convincing devotional figures quickly and at a lower cost, u s i n g m a t e r i a l s t h a t w e r e easy to source and easy to transport. The process itself was – a n d s t i l l i s – r e l a t i v e l y s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d i n i t s e s s e n c e : p a p e r s c r a p s a r e soaked and broken down into pulp, mixed with glue and binders, then shaped by hand over wooden structures or molds. Once the form dries, the surface is refined, sealed, and painted. Simple, it may seem, but the work demands time and familiarity with the material, lest errors lead to disaster: drying too fast can cause cracks; sealing poorly invites humidity and insects. I n o t h e r w o r d s , y o u n e e d e x p e r i e n c e a n d a b l e s s e d hand to make it work. What turned cartapesta into a tradition Lecce's par- ticular context and history. During the Baroque peri- od, the city was one of the most religiously dense cities i n S o u t h e r n I t a l y , w h e r e demand for statues was con- stant, which meant work- s h o p s c o u l d r e f i n e t h e i r t e c h n i q u e s b e c a u s e t h e y were producing regularly. Over time, a recognizable style emerged, characterized by expressive but controlled figures, carefully modeled without excess, designed to b e c o n v i n c i n g u p c l o s e rather than dramatic from afar. The origins of the craft are firmly placed into the city's everyday life, as local historical accounts tell us; early cartapesta work, the sources recount, often took p l a c e i n b a r b e r s ' s h o p s , more precisely in their back rooms, already used for mix- ing products and handling tools. Here, craftsmen would develop informal laborato- ries to prepare paper pulp and model their statues. One early figure, remembered as M e s c i u P i e t r u d e l i Cristi, was himself a barber, known for making crucifixes that found their way into churches and private homes. A s k n o w l e d g e p a s s e d from hand to hand, often within families, cartapesta became more refined: arti- sans learned how to build armatures that could sup- port larger figures, how to control proportions, how to paint flesh tones that felt lifelike rather than theatri- cal. Their goal was credibili- t y , b e c a u s e t h e s e s t a t u e s were meant to be realistic, to be believed in. By the late nineteenth century , cartapesta had grown into something recog- nizable enough to attract attempts at modernization, the most ambitious of which was led by Luigi Guacci, who founded an Istituto di Arti Plastiche and orga- n i z e d p r o d u c t i o n o n a n unprecedented scale. His workshop employed dozens of workers and expanded beyond religious statuary i n t o d o l l s , d e c o r a t i v e objects, and items for broad- er markets, but the experi- ment divided opinion: some saw it as a necessary step toward economic survival; others worried that some- thing essential would be lost in the process. Either way, Guacci's project demonstrat- ed that cartapesta creators were not only adaptable but perfectly able to respond to the challenges of modernity. In the twentieth centu- r y , h o w e v e r , d e m a n d f o r l a r g e d e v o t i o n a l s t a t u e s declined, and many work- shops closed. Today, car- tapesta survives through a small number of artisans, often described as the last of their kind. True, training is long, commissions are irreg- ular, and producing a life- size figure can take months, yet, the craft has not disap- peared, rather it has shifted its attention to what's more requested: smaller figures, nativity scenes, masks, and contemporary reinterpreta- tions now make up much of the work, attracting collec- tors and visitors who are drawn to the technique as much as the objects them- selves. Local institutions have been also relevant in ensur- ing continuity and visibility, especially since the opening, i n 2 0 0 9 , o f t h e M u s e o della Cartapesta inside Castello Carlo V, where visitors not only see works of art, but also learn about how the material works and how figures are built. But to fully understand cartapesta in its cultural and artistic dimensions, one must understand how it fits into Lecce's wider aesthetic: Lecce stone dominates the exterior of the city, bright, ornate, and exposed to the elements, but cartapesta belongs mostly indoors. It lives in chapels, sacristies, a n d s i d e a l t a r s , s p a c e s designed more for proximity than grand display. The jux- taposition of the two materi- als creates a striking and r a t h e r u n u s u a l c o n t r a s t , with stone suggesting per- manence and public pres- ence, and paper intimacy and use. Together, they tell a more complete story of how art and devotion functioned in the city. Balance remains, in the e n d , t h e t r u e s e c r e t o f Lecce's cartapesta tradition, b e c a u s e i t t u r n s m o d e s t materials into objects capa- ble of holding both attention and meaning; emerged from necessity rather than abun- dance, its origins still shape the craft's character today. Cartapesta remains one of Lecce's signature art forms: it's not loud, but its beauty is a reward for those who take the time to appreciate it. And this is why, in a city known for stone, it is per- haps paper that carries some o f t h e m o s t m e a n i n g f u l expressions of local devo- tion, skill, and everyday cre- ativity. FRANCESCA BEZZONE A cartapesta artist at work (Photo: Steve Estvanik/Dreamstime) Inside Lecce's cartapesta tradition ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano

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