The 16th-century altar of Vittore Carpaccio has returned to the Slovenian town of Piran, where it was originally commissioned, a sharp criticism from Italian politicians who insist that the work remains part of Italian cultural gardening.
Madonna and the children ascend the throne with six saints (1518) was drawn at the Piran Church of the Piran Church in Assisi, Istria, an Adriatic region that was once controlled by Italy but is now divided between Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. The painting was deleted in 1940, when Istria was lying entirely within the Italian border and was kept in custody in Padua during World War II. It has been hanging there for decades.
On September 4, under pressure from Franciscan monks in Padua, the work quietly moved back to Piran, and a few days ago President Sergio Mattarella began a state visit to Slovenia. Slovenian Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko praised the return as the “fruit of long-term efforts” and said the painting will soon be visible “in its real environment.”
In Italy, however, the handover was condemned as surrender. The work “still part of the Italian legacy” said the work “is still part of the Italian legacy” by Giorgia Meloni’s senator, Roberto Menia, a descendant of the Istrian exiles. Anna Maria Cisint of the Union European Parliament warned in a letter to Mattarella that the exiles felt “pain and loss”. Another brother of Italy’s representative Alessandro Urzì called the transfer “restored to its original state” and “substantially incorrect”.
The debate touched the nerves of history. After World War II, about 350,000 Italians fled after World War II Istria and Dalmatia, amid intimidation and retaliation in Tito’s Yugoslavia.
The painting will be reinstalled on December 27 at St. Francis, Piran, after restoration work was made on the church altar.
