Arcumeggia (Arcümégia in local dialect) is a fraction of the municipality of Casalzuigno in the province of Varese, in Italy.
Overview The place is known because in 1956 the Organization Provincial for the Tourism decided to turn it into a painted village. After such decision, came in the country artists as Ferruccio Ferrazzi, Aldo Carpi, Sante Monachesi, Aligi Sassu, Ernesto Treccani, Achille Funi, Giuseppe Migneco, Gianni Dova, Gianfilippo Usellini, Innocente Salvini, Giovanni Brancaccio, Bruno Saetti, Enzo Morelli, Remo Brindisi, Fiorenzo Tomea, Eugenio Tomiolo, Francesco Menzio, Ilario Rossi, Giuseppe Montanari, Cristoforo De Amicis, Luigi Montanarini, Umberto Faini, Antonio Pedretti and Albino Reggiori. The paintings, performed with the technique of the fresco, are on the external walls of the houses of the village:
Giovanni Brancaccio: "Girl at the window", 1956 Remo Brindisi: "Inhabitants and jobs of the place", 1957 Aldo Carpi: "Sant'Ambrogio blesses Arcumeggia", 1966, "Divine Lamb" (ceramics), 1967 Cristoforo de Amicis "Madonna and angel", 1958 Gianni Dova: "The bullfight", 1964 Umberto Faini: "Allegory of the mural decoration", 1994 Ferruccio Ferrazzi: "Waiting", 1956 Achille Funi: "Madonnina", 1956 Giuseppe Migneco: "The emigrant's departure", 1962 Francesco Menzio: "Children among the trees", 1956 Sante Monachesi: "Gea’s triumph", 1959 Giuseppe Montanari: "St. Martin and the poor man", 1956 Luigi Montanarini: "Composition", 1959 Enzo Morelli: "The Samaritane at the well", 1956 Antonio Pedretti: "In the Alps, heart of Europe, the roots of the European union", 2001 Bruno Saetti: "Maternity", 1956 Innocente Salvini: "The division of the polenta in family", 1971 Aligi Sassu: "Racing cyclists", 1967 and "St. Martin", 1991 Fiorenzo Tomea: "The Crucified", 1956 Eugenio Tomiolo: "Hope", 1956 Ernesto Treccani: "Rural composition", 1974 Gianfilippo Usellini: "The emigrant's return", 1956, "Sant'Antonio ",1967, "St. Rocco", 1967 and "Severin, drik little wine!!!", 1964.
Close to the church, there is a Way of the Cross, with the stations painted by 11 different artists:
I - Giuseppe Montanari: Jesus is condemned to death, 1963 II - Sante Monachesi: Jesus is given his cross, 1959 III - Aldo Carpi: Jesus falls the first time, 1963 IV - Remo Brindisi: Jesus meets Maria, 1960 V - Enzo Morelli: Jesus helped by Symone of Cirene, 1963 VI - Ilario Rossi: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus, 1960 VII - Luigi Montanarini: Jesus falls the second time, 1959 VIII – Giuseppe Montanari: Jesus meets the pious women, within 1960 IX - Gianfilippo Usellini: Jesus falls the third time, after April 1960 X - Giovanni Brancaccio: Jesus stripped of the dresses, 1961 XI - Aligi Sassu: Jesus is nailed to the cross, 1963 (?) XII - Aldo Carpi: Jesus dies on the cross, 1963 XIII - Gianfilippo Usellini: Jesus' body is removed from the cross, 1963 XIV - Eugenio Tomiolo: Jesus is laid in the sepulchre, 1965
Notable it is also the House of the Painter that preserves the sketches and the tests of the frescos and hosts summer courses of painting organized by the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera.
Arcumeggia is the native country of the sculptor Giuseppe Vittorio Cerini (1862–1935), of which numerous works are in Italy (Turin, Bra, Ceva, St. Benign Canavese, Virle and in the Varesotto) and in some foreign countries (Switzerland and Argentina). May be admired a small gallery of plaster casts in the courtyard of the native house and two marble works in the local cemetery.
Bibliography
Arcumeggia, la galleria all'aperto dell'affresco. Edizione "Pro Arcumeggia" presso l'Ente Provinciale Turismo - Varese, 1985 Giuseppe Cerini di Arcumeggia - Lavoro di ricerca della libera associazione culturale "La corte dei Sofistici", 1999 Carlo Torriani: "Sui muri di Arcumeggia nuovo splendore per gli affreschi di Funi, Brindisi, Dova" - Corriere della sera del 27-7-1984 Aristide Selmi: "Se dovete andare in piazza Dova prendete via Tomea e poi via Sassu" - Domenica del Corriere dell'11-9-1975 Angelo Montonati: "Arcumeggia, il paese grandi firme" - Famiglia Cristiana n. 38, 1995 Meridiani - Laghi lombardi - Anno XVII n. 127 Arcumeggia - La galleria all'aperto dell'affresco a cura di Alberto Bertoni e Raffaella Ganna, Macchione Editore, 1997
External links
http://www.pbase.com/alymd/arcumeggia (photos of the frescos of Arcumeggia) http://www.eugeniotomiolo.it/notizia/arcumeggia/arcumeggia_completo.php http://www.opificiodellepietredure.it/index.php?it/297/pitture-murali-di-arcumeggia-va
http://www.vareselandoftourism.it/?lang=it&pers=localita&focus=0240&PAG=arcumeggia-it