The Crucifix of the Salita del Cavaliere in Fontechiari shines again!
More than three hundred years ago, people in Fontechiari carried the wooden crucifix from the Church of Santa Maria in procession. According to legend, on the way up to the village, the people of Fontechiari, who had been suffering from a severe drought for months, turned to the crucifix for help. A violent hailstorm interrupted the procession at that moment, bringing abundant rain and saving the population.
In memory of this miraculous event, they commissioned a fresco depicting the characters connected to the blood of Jesus, in derogation of the traditional iconography. The work is unique in its genre and presents San Longino e St Joseph of Arimathea as the main figures. Today, the fresco still stands exactly where the interruption of the procession took place, and continues to amaze with its originality and beauty.
Joseph of Arimathea, one of the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish assembly that judged Jesus, provided the Sepulchre of the Resurrection and the Shroud. According to medieval legends, he collected Christ's blood drop by drop and deposited it in the Holy Grail. He fled to England, where he evangelised and started literature related to the Holy Grail, which inspired works such as The Da Vinci Code.
Longino was a Roman soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear, from which blood and water flowed. After picking up the blood-soaked earth, the Roman soldier converted to Christianity and his persecutors martyred him in Mantua. Today, Mantua preserves his body and two golden vases containing the soil of Golgotha impregnated with Jesus' blood.
Thanks to the conservative restoration, the work of art, presumably created by a pupil of the Cavalier d'Arpino, has returned to its former glory.