Storytelling frescoes

Visiting the churches of the Cembra Valley, set among hills and vineyards

There are walls that speak to those who observe them carefully. They tell stories that can be read even by those who cannot read. They complement the words that come out of the priest's mouth, to make his teaching more effective.

The Biblia pauperum (poor man's Bible) is a collection of images, taken from the Bible or the Gospel, which, read one after the other, form a sequence that tells a story. They are cartoons ante litteram. Intended for an illiterate public, they were often printed and sometimes painted on church walls.

An admirable example is the one you can admire in the Church of Saint Peter, in Cembra. This is where this journey among the churches of the Val di Cembra begins, where spirituality emerges among rows of vines and green hills.

Church of Saint Peter, Cembra

As soon as you walk through the entrance, on the left wall you can admire an elegant depiction of the Last Judgement, painted in the 18^th century by Valentino Rovisi, a member of the Tiepolo school.

But on the opposite side you will see images painted in a very different style, made at least two centuries earlier. They tell stories from the life of Christ and should be read in sequence.

Highly detailed and richly coloured, these frescoes are a perfect example of a medieval Biblia Pauperum. In these images, every detail has a precise symbolic meaning that we probably ignore today but that was clearly recognised and shared by the faithful of the time. A common language that spoke of redemption and salvation.

Before leaving the church, lift your gaze to admire the nature-themed decorations on a white background that adorn the ceiling vaults. It is the common thread that links this church to the next.

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Segonzano

Cross vaults frescoed with floral motifs on a white background alternating with symbols of the evangelists: this church, too, boasts the touch of the artists who worked in the Church of Saint Peter in Cembra. A Friulian art workshop operated in this area of Trentino in the 16^th century, leaving its mark.

However, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in the hamlet of Piazzo, is best known for its wooden statue of Our Lady of the Grapes, invoked by the faithful as the protector of the harvest.

Her cult dates back to the distant past, when a terrible storm hit the valley, culminating in a snowfall that compromised the harvest. From that inauspicious day until the end of the 19^th century, the inhabitants of the area, when natural disasters approached, carried the statue of the Madonna in procession to ask for her protection.

Protection was also invoked in 1796, when Napoleonic and Austro-Tyrolean troops met at the foot of Segonzano Castle in a historic battle. At the end of the clash, the citizens of the Val di Cembra created an ex-voto painting to tell the story of the event, which you can see inside the church.

Sanctuary of Our Lady Help of Christians, Segonzano

From the miraculous statue in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, to a painting, also endowed with a special aura: the painting of Our Lady Help of Christians, a copy of Lucas Cranach's Mariahilf preserved in Innsbruck.

The painting, inside the Sanctuary dedicated to Mary Help of Christians, better known as the 'Madonna dell'Aiuto' (Our Lady Help of Christians), was commissioned and brought to Segonzano in 1682-1683 by Baron Francesco Ferdinando a Prato and soon turned it into a place of pilgrimage for devotees.

Church of Saint Leonard, Lisignago

This journey among the churches of Val di Cembra comes to an end in a small mountain church, the interior of which contains precious frescoes on the side walls dating back to the end of the 15^th century. The one on the right wall represents the Last Supper, with a detail that we invite you to notice.

All the apostles are seated on the same side of the table, except for Judas Iscariot. The apostle has his mouth open, into which a dark figure, difficult to define, seems to be creeping. It is Satan slipping into the body of Judas, already poised for betrayal.