Italian Art
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Baby Wrapping – Traditional Baby Swaddling in Italy and Beyond
Baby wrapping or traditional baby swaddling is an ancient practice that was once widespread in Italy and much of Europe and the Mediterranean. It was still used in baby care in parts of 1960s Italy. How did this custom of baby wrapping arise? The image above, in which the baby is in a bassinet at a spinner’s feet, involved wrapping a newborn in a long broad strip of cloth that constrained the movement of the baby with its legs straightened out and its arms by its sides. This particular image comes from a 12th century English illustration for the Hunterian Psalter. Swaddling is still used today throughout the world to…
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Our Lady and the Faith of our Mothers
No visit to Italy is complete without endless opportunities to enter and be awestruck in Italy’s innumerable churches and shrines. And any visitor from an English speaking country (where less embellished models predominate) is likely to be struck by the prominent presence of the Virgin Mary in these places of worship. Not only is she present; she appears as a representation of the spiritual world in many different guises and roles. Many places of worship are specifically dedicated to her in these different manifestations. The names these places bear give a sense of the diverse roles she plays. She presides over the local “Chiesa Madra” (the Mother Cathedral) of many…
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Il Drago and Luigi Capuana’s search for redemption
Luigi Capuana was a nineteenth century writer. His work, The Old Dragon (Il Drago), although an apparently light children’s story, carries a poignant loss and search for redemption. In a strange way the story is a “might have been” of Luigi Capuana’s life and of the children he never admitted as his own. Luigi Capuana, Giuseppina Sansone and their children Giuseppina Sansone is central, although whether she is portrayed in the story is debatable. She is a love of much Luigi Capuana’s life. He met her at age 37 and she was an unmarried partner for the next twenty years. She is almost entirely invisible, while he is a noted Italian…
