Carlotta Nobile (Rome, 20 December 1988 – Benevento, 16 July 2013) was an Italian art historian, violinist, writer, blogger, and artistic director of Santa Sophia Academy chamber orchestra in Benevento from September 2010 up to her death. A multi-faceted artist and scholar, among the most popular young Italian violinists of her time, she was also known for her testimony of courage in her fight against cancer and for the deep experience of Faith gained in the last months of her life, which ended aged 24. In February 2018 she was included among the "Young Witnesses" of the Synod of Bishops 2018 on the theme "Young people, faith and vocational discernment", announced by Pope Francis. She is a probable candidate for canonization.
Career Born into an ancient family,A family of lawyers and nesters from Benevento, descending from Sico of Benevento (a Longobard prince of Benevento in the ninth century) through the Mascambruno family, owning one of the three keys that open the little gate that keeps the bones of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in the Church bearing the same name. (Giordano, G. (1976) "Una chiave, un "boffettone", un assassinio" in Aspetti di vita beneventana nei secoli XVII-XVIII, Napoli, Edizioni Dehoniane, p. 25). The Nobiles of Benevento were the last owners of the Castle of Taurasi (now belonging to the City), inherited from the marquises d'Aulisio Garigliota (De Angelis, R. & Capobianco, E. (2011) Il palazzo marchionale ovvero il Castello, vol. 2 di Enciclopedia Taurasina, Fontanarosa, Tipolitografia "Ideal"). The Nobile Palace, situated in the centre of Benevento, was expanded more and more after its built, in the eighteenth century. The restoration of the palace was made in 1996 by the architect Ludovico Papa. she graduated in violin at the Conservatory of Benevento when she was only 17,Goodbye Carlotta Nobile, the angel of violin corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it attaining First Class Honours with Distinction, under the guide of her mentor Massimo Bacci. After that, in her short but intense career, she took many specialist courses in violin like the one with Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, with Pavel Vernikov at the International Academy of Portogruaro and at the Fiesole School of Music, and with Eugen Sârbu at London.Carriera | Sito ufficiale sulla Vita di Carlotta Nobile www.carlottanobile.it
Absolute winner of many national competitions,Biography www.supportimusicali.it including the First Absolute Prize at the "F. Kreisler" National Violin Competition of Matera (2006) and at the "Città di Viterbo" National Competition (2008), and the First Prize at the Riviera della Versilia National Competition (2005), she took the award of "Distinguished Musician" at the International Ibla Grand Prize 2007 and "Ernest Bloch Special Mention" at the International Ibla Grand Prize 2008.
Marcello Abbado said about her: «an exceptional musician, a sweet and sensitive girl with an extraordinary vocation for music».Ibla Gran Prize : In memoria di Carlotta Nobile. reteiblea.it Martin Berkofsky, with whom Nobile played in duo, will declare: "Our concert was the greatest and most wonderful musical experience I had in seventy years of life."Career - Life of Carlotta Nobile www.carlottanobile.it
She combined music with her passion for arts, taking a bachelor's degree cum laude in Art History Studies at Sapienza University of Rome in 2010 and attending the University of Cambridge (Art History International Summer Courses in 2009), the Contemporary Art Course at Sotheby's Institute of Art of New York (in 2010)Bio | Carlotta Nobile www.carlottanobile.it and taking the LUISS Master of Art 2011/2012 in Rome.
In December 2008, she released her first book "Il silenzio delle parole nascoste" ("the silence of hidden words"), followed by "Oxymoron", published by Aracne Editrice in 2012. For several years she wrote a music column called "Righe Sonore" on the website Quaderno.it and wrote for the magazine "Realtà Sannita".
At only 21, in 2010, she became the artistic director of Santa Sophia Academy Chamber Orchestra in Benevento. As first Artistic Director, she is committed to the Academy launch, also for the purpose of exporting it outside its region,Intervista a Carlotta Nobile – L'Areopago (CDS TV), puntata del 24/11/2010. www.youtube.com taking care of the three-year concert program, new formula on the whole national territory.Programmazione della stagione concertistica 2011–2013 dell'Accademia di Santa Sofia www.vacanzenelsannio.benevento.it Her proposal for a varied and eclectic program, ranging from Mozart to The Beatles, from Piazzolla to Strauss, from Bach to the Italian Twentieth century and the Neapolitan Eighteenth century, collects acclaim and public success.L'Accademia di Santa Sofia affascina il pubblico che è sempre più numeroso ai suoi concerti www.gazzettabenevento.itAtteso ritorno dell'Accademia di Santa Sofia www.sannioteatrieculture.itAccademia di Santa Sofia, concerto alla Chiesa di San Bartolomeo www.ilsannita.itTutto esaurito nella Basilica di San Bartolomeo per l'Omaggio ai Beatles reso dall'Accademia di Santa Sofia www.gazzettabenevento.it Nobile will remain active as Artistic Director of Santa Sophia until the untimely death. Her work helped to lay the foundations for the rapid entry of the academy into the Fund for the Performing Arts (FUS) of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.L’Accademia di Santa Sofia tra le associazioni musicali finanziate dal Fondo Unico per lo Spettacolo www.ntr24.tv After her death, the Academy will live three years of stop. It then resumed its activities under the artistic direction of Maestro Filippo Zigante.Accademia di Santa Sofia: si comincia da tre www.sannioteatrieculture.itAccademia di Santa Sofia, debutto con incanto per ricordare Carlotta Nobile www.ntr24.tv
During her career, she explored the interconnections among music, contemporary art and writing, using interdisciplinarity and contamination criteria. via archive.today
In Rome, together with some other young scholars, she founded the group "Almost Curators", with the aim of connecting contemporary art experts with general public. As a member of the "Almost Curators" group, she managed cultural events and wrote many articles on the group's blog.Carlotta Nobile Almost Curators, www.almostcurators.org
Cancer and the blog
In October 2011, when she was 22, Nobile was diagnosed with melanoma; she fronted every possible cure and various surgical interventionsAbout me Il Cancro E Poi ilcancroepoi.com while keeping on her musical and artistic career, alternating concerts and hospitals recoveries. On the newspaper La Stampa, Sandro Cappelletto said: “The more the treatment was hard and the diagnosis got worse, the more her music became a form of rebellion to her destiny, her real life, never losing a bit of quality”.La Stampa: Addio a Carlotta Nobile, l’angelo del violino. www.lastampa.it
In April 2012, she started, under a concealed identity, her Facebook page "Il Cancro E Poi" ("Cancer and Afterwards") that gave birth to a huge community of people suffering from cancer just like her. They identified themselves with her thoughts, finding a vital help in her words.Carlotta Nobile, goodbye to the angel of violin www.Tgcom24 In August she created the related website.
During the period of her illness, playing in a duo with the pianist Martin Berkofsky, she joined "Donatori di Musica" ("donors of music"), a social community involved in bringing music concerts in the Italian cancer wards.Donatori Di Musica – musicians www.donatoridimusica.itIn memory of Carlotta Nobile playing with the pianist Berkofsky archiviostorico.corriere.it About her social and charity commitment there's the book "Donatori di musica" by L. Fumagalli, Curci Editions (2015).
Faith, the pope, and death
Faith In the last months of her life, Carlotta lived a deep faith experience,Aleteia.org: “Dear Pope Francis, Cancer Has Healed My Soul”. Can someone become a saint in just a few months? This is the story of Carlotta, who embraced the cross with joy aleteia.orgCarlotta Nobile, the girl who wanted to meet Pope Francis – San Giacomo in Augusta Church website sangiacomoroma.blogspot.itNot only pain but also joy for people who miss Carlotta Nobile www.gazzettabenevento.itSearch results for Carlotta Nobile on the website of San Giacomo in Augusta Church sangiacomoroma.blogspot.it born suddenly on 4 March 2013 at her awakening from a crisis that brought her to the Hospital of Milan for a few days.Fede www.carlottanobile.it Sito Ufficiale sulla Vita di Carlotta Nobile This fact, perceived like a revelation, was anonymously told by Carlotta on her blog dedicated to cancer in the last post before her death:
She continued in the same post:
Letter to Pope Francis Her spirituality was considerably inspired by Pope Francis's sermon calling young people to bear the cross with joy (24 March 2013 Homily).Palm Sunday, XXVIII World Celebration for the Youth (March, 24th 2013) www.vatican.va
On Good Friday 2013, in the centre of Rome, Nobile was looking for a church because she wanted to confess, but usually they are closed during the lunch break. The only one left open was the San Giacomo in Augusta church, in Via del Corso. There Nobile met the parish priest don Giuseppe Trappolini, they had a very touching conversation and, as Don Giuseppe said, she "cried from joy" as she talked about her story, her battle against melanoma and the tranquility she felt after listening to the words of Pope Francis. The priest was moved by a remarkable coincidence: just the day before he was received with some other Roman priests by the Pope and in that occasion the Holy Father asked them to keep the churches open on Good Friday all day long to allow anybody to confess. Trappolini decided to tell the pope the story of Nobile in a letter and on April 10 morning, the pope rang up back to tell he would pray for her, adding: "This girl gives me courage". Just in the moments of the phone call, Nobile was seized by a cerebral crisis in the Hospital of Carrara, where she had gone as a volunteer musician of the "Music Donors". On waking up in the ward, on the morning of 11 April 2013, after having recovered lucidity, still in bed and in the company of his mother, she reported that she was having a trinitarian vision consisting of a luminous triangle on the chamber wall.Fede - Vita di Carlotta Nobile www.carlottanobile.it
Nobile wrote the pope a letter to communicate her faith in life and in this divine encounter."Caro papa Francesco, il cancro mi ha guarito nell’anima", video-intervista di Aleteia a Don Giuseppe Trappolini www.youtube.com"Don Giuseppe Trappolini, parroco romano, è stato ospite a pranzo di Papa Francesco", intervista di Tv2000 a Don Giuseppe Trappolini www.youtube.com
That letter reads in part:
The last three months Thanks to Don Trappolini, Nobile was about to meet personally the pope, but in May 2013 her condition started to get worse and so she went back to Benevento, and she spent the last months of her life in her family house. In those months she dedicated herself to prayers in a mood of total trust, self-abandon, and gratitude with God."Carlotta Nobile una sorella con la S maiuscola", video-intervista di Aleteia al fratello di Carlotta Nobile www.youtube.com"Si può diventare santi in pochi mesi? Storia di Carlotta che ha abbracciato la Croce con gioia", video-intervista di Aleteia a Don Giuseppe Trappolini www.youtube.com On the last night of her life, that between 14 and 15 July 2013, Nobiles father reportedly was awakened by the following words of Nobile, whispered repeatedly in a serene tone and with gaze turned towards the ceiling:
The next day, a few hours before her death, she gave her loved ones the last farewell:
After two years of struggle, she died at the age of 24.Goodbye Carlotta Nobile tv.liberoquotidiano.it