In May, Marian devotion flourishes in the prayers of the faithful, in particular with the community recitation of the rosary in churches and homes. A manifestation of faith, but also of culture. In the small church of Oriano above Ticino, in the Varese area, from this year one new image of the mother of Jesus accompanies the prayers. She is there Madonna of Oriano. That behind her has a history of affection for her and for her territory.
The missing paintings
In the night between 10 and 11 November 1991, four paintings of a certain value disappeared from the small church dedicated to Sant'Antonio Abate. The picturesque building is perched on the hill of Oriano sopra Ticino, formerly a municipality, now a hamlet of Sesto Calende, a town on the Lombard shore of Lake Maggiore and Ticino, which right here resumes its course towards the Po. Nobody heard anything. The rectory had long been uninhabited and the closest neighbors live across the street, in an old, modernized peasant courtyard. Those paintings had not only an affective and decorative value, in the harmony of the centuries-old church. They also had economic ones, for their artistic quality and antiquity. Although not cataloged, we know from the age of the church and from the pictorial characteristics they dated back at least to the XNUMXth century, if not the XVI.
"Cacciatori" in Oriano
Also missing from the sacred building (ohibò!), A voluminous wooden wardrobe that occupied a large part of the sacristy. Evidently the thieves knew their stuff, they knew the church and had organized to take the piece apart without making too much noise. "It was perhaps a band of art hunters active in the area at the time", explains to italiani.it Vitaliano Forlani, one of the protagonists of the story we are telling you. But let's go in order.
Some time after the theft some hikers found in the nearby "Path of Hidden Wonders" some frames badly thrown into the woods. They were those of the stolen paintings. They were deposited in a small room adjacent to the church - it was the first church, of which we have news since the year 1290! - which now serves as a storage room.
In the closet
Then, for thirty years, paintings and frames fell into oblivion. Until one day Vitaliano Forlani saw them, leaning against the wall. You almost never enter the closet, but around Christmas, Forlani usually places the baptismal font there, temporarily removed from the church to make room for the nativity scene, whose preparation it has been working on for several years. "I noticed that among those frames there was one that was worth restoring", remember ours. "It was of considerable size", illustrates, "About twenty centimeters wide, bordered with gold leaf rosettes, but quite ruined". He asked Luigia for authorization and, once he had restored it, the idea came to replace the stolen painting (a Nativity) with a new one. And why not one Madonna of Oriano?
Oriano, a bit of history
To give a frame to this beautiful story too, let's briefly tell the story of this charming village of a few hundred souls. The name of "Orglano" appears for the first time "in a precept of Liutprando, king of the Lombards, in favor of a monastery in Pavia in 712. A few centuries later, in 1045, the monks of San Dionisio in Milan among the assets left to them by the deceased archbishop of Milan Ariberto also mention the land holdings of 'Orleano'. Finally, the name is confirmed in 1290, when 'Orliano' is mentioned as the locality of the church dedicated to Sant'Antonio Abate ”. This writes on the site of the Municipality of Sesto Calende Renzo Besozzi, another lover of his land.
The Madonna of the Orianesi
Forlani, an amateur painter, summoned Mrs. Iva Cecconi, from the nearby Mercallo, with whom he had worked on the new image of the Madonna della Rotonda in Vergiate, a neighboring town. Both went to work and during the past winter they completed the work, 120 cm x 90 cm, inspired by the Madonna della Scala by Andrea Del Sarto. But instead of the fortified city that the Florentine placed in the background ... they put the outline of the town of Oriano. Mr. Vitaliano is very attached to the country. "Here lived my parents, farmers", evokes. Here he was born, in 1955 and grew up here, and now he lives in nearby Oneda. He has a small carpentry workshop and is delighted with brushes. He admires the "original colors" of Mrs. Cecconi, who has been painting since she was a child and at her time he attended art school.
... after that of Vergiate
That too, a beautiful story. When it was decided to build the rotunda on the Sempione state road, the Marian shrine, very dear to the people of Vergia, should have been sacrificed, being at the entrance to the town. The owner of the land generously left it available, as long as the Madonna was kept. Ida and Vitaliano, then, having noticed the poor state of the painting, now almost totally discolored, proposed the realization of the work that today decorates the rotunda. And which improves the previous one, undoubtedly also the fruit of love for the Virgin Mary, but rather handcrafted. In those days, explains Forlani, it was common for this type of painting to be commissioned to painters and not painters. Even the new Madonna of Vergiate, like that of Oriano, was donated by the two artists to the population. And she was adopted by the people of Vergiata, who continue to bring her flowers. “I learned that a person prays in front of her every morning”, concludes Forlani.
Our Lady is "Orianese di Oriano"!
The story ends on May 4st, a few weeks ago. When, at the post-winter reopening of the church for worship, at the beginning of the Marian month, the frame was relocated to its original site. This time with a new painting. For the occasion, the parish priest of Sesto Calende, Don Luca Corbetta, blessed the new Madonna of Oriano in the presence of the deputy mayor Edoardo Favaron and the faithful present at the mass. Hanging the picture was not easy… since the nail was placed at a height of about XNUMX meters. The citizen's “Ragazzi del Palio” took care of it - naturally, those of the local team, among other things reigning champion for the third consecutive edition - led by their vice-president Francesco Signori.
The "thank you" of the community
The pastoral community of the city, which includes the five parishes of Sesto, expressed thanks to its manager, Don Luca, its gratitude to Iva and Vitaliano for their gift. "In the face of the damage that occurred to the church in 1991, thanks to the interest and attention to the parish, a worthy and in a certain way of restoration work was created and now placed, typical of the community itself, with the characteristic of the presence of the village in the background ”, commented the priest. Thirty-one years ago Oriano lost ancient and valuable works. Today it has gained a new beauty, born from love, generosity and attachment to the roots and the territory. It is not cheap.
Main photo: comune.sesto-calende.va.it
