Darfo-Boario Terme: the new Franca Ghitti Museum opens

Darfo-Boario Terme: the new Franca Ghitti Museum opens.

The new Franca Ghitti Museum, which will open its doors to Darfo-Boario Terme on 22 September, is located in a symbolic place of Darfo, theancient convent complex of Santa Maria della Visitazione.

Next to the elegant church lies what for several centuries was a citadel of faith and education.

A testimony from the eighteenth century describes a convent to us “characterized by four hundred rooms, magnificent corridors with light and slender arches. In the middle of that square mass there was a garden with a perpetual water fountain. Adjacent to the building it stretched for six".

A truly special place due to its location in the area. The architect who, by order of Cardinal Angelo Maria Querini, Venetian patrician and Bishop of Brescia, traveled the valley to identify the ideal location for the new sacred complex, was supported by a doctor, with the task of verifying the healthiness and, we would say today, "energy", local.

The convent was intended to accommodate the Visitandine Sisters, members of the congregation of Blessed Virgin Mother of God of the Visitation, born in Annecy in 1610, from the noblewoman Giovanna Francesca Frémyot, inspired by St. Francis de Sales, his spiritual guide.

The nuns of the Order were initially involved not only in prayer, but also in visiting and caring for the sick, then moving towards seclusion. The construction work on the new convent complex was quite rapid. Initiated in 1721, were already completed in 1729.

"...Here, therefore, such a sanctuary was destined from heaven and the canonical suitability of the place and site for such a foundation was examined and approved, nothing else was wanted other than to speed up the preparation of the building without saving”, comments a testimony from the time.

In a few years the number of resident nuns reached thirty, mostly an expression of the small nobility of the area. The convent also hosted boarders, girls of the local nobility and bourgeoisiei.

Il new Napoleonic order led to the suppression of the convent in 1797 while the church passed to the parish. In the 1810 the convent complex was transferred to Public State Property and the last nuns were dispersed. Put on the market, the former convent then passed into private hands.

In 1834 the building was purchased by a new religious institution, that of the nuns of Sacred Heart. The Institute of the Sacred Heart, which was activated here, included the novitiate, the nursery, the municipal and professional schools, as well as the boarding school, festive recreation for the population and the shelter for the elderly nuns. The building stood out as an important religious and educational center serving the whole Camonica Valley.

In this phase, the church returned to the convent and in 1895, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, it was restored and decorated by Carlo Cavallotti di Milano, with the addition of statues sculpted by Passers of Brescia.

In 1970 the nuns left the complex; in 1974 the Poor Clares of Lovere who remained there until 1976 When these too moved away, a phase of tragic devastation began for the convent with the dispersion of its most precious assets. In May 1976, the Municipality of Darfo Boario Terme decided to acquire the complex with the aim of making it home to cultural and social institutions.

Before the Municipality could get involved, the building was occupied by young protesters who made a camp out of it and dispersed furnishings and furnishings, including those from the church.

In April 1980, the Municipality of Darfo, in agreement with the Superintendence, he decided to intervene to try to remedy the devastation. The first care was reserved for the church. The restoration work between 1980 and 1981 was significant of the frescoes, by the school of'Enaip of Botticino. Then gradually the attention was extended to the former convent complex, intended as a school site.

Now the new destination as the location of the new Franca Ghitti Museum, whose initial nucleus was located in an area of ​​the former convent recently renovated thanks to a substantial regional contribution from funds from the Integrated Cultural Plans (Pic). The new Museum was born from the will of the Municipality of Darfo Boario Terme, of the Foundation "Franca Ghitti Archive” chaired by the professor Maria Luisa Ardizzone, New York University, from Mountain Community and from BIM Municipalities Consortium of Valle Camonica.

Info: www.fondazionearchiviofrancaghitti.com