A light that shines again in the sign of solidarity

It all began on June 1st 2012, a Friday, when in the early afternoon a phone call arrived at the headquarters of the Promovetro Consortium from the Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethnoanthropological Heritage of Bologna: “We need to save a large Murano glass chandelier that is hanging in the building of the Municipality of Sant’Agostino, now unusable. Who better than you can give us a hand? After the last tremors it could fall at any moment.”From that phone call this beautiful story began in the name of solidarity: the “A Light for Emilia Romagna” project, which involved many people, many artisans and many companies who made their professionalism available to the initiative free of charge to save and restore light to the chandeliers of Sant’Agostino.

Just a few hours after that first contact, a group of artisans and technicians coordinated by the Consortium was ready to leave for Emilia Romagna, but a last-minute phone call postponed the team’s departure: the Fire Brigade was in fact still waiting for some parts of the central hydraulic clamp which was supposed to remotely cut the support cables to be able to extract the chandeliers from the building, now inaccessible.

Everything was then postponed to the following Monday, June 4, the day on which, with the supervision of Promovetro technicians, the Fire Brigade was able to carry out the delicate rescue operations.In a general silence, amidst the attentive and worried gazes of the people of Saint Augustine, the imposing “gold amber crystal” chandelier and the other three were successfully extracted through the gash that had been created on the side wall of the town hall.

With precision and skill, thanks to the indications coming from colleagues and a Promovetro technician, placed on a platform on top of a crane, the Fire Brigade remotely operated a telescopic arm which delicately brought the chandeliers to safety amidst the commotion of those present.The large chandelier, more than 4 meters high, 3 floors with crest[1] and with a circumference of 3 meters and the three smaller ones were finally safe.

Under an incessant rain, the artisans and technicians of Murano, under the supervision of the staff of the Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethnoanthropological Heritage of Bologna, took care of the dismantling and securing of all the elements. Once the packing operations were completed, the makeshift boxes containing the elements of the chandeliers were transferred to await their fate.In fact, exactly one year later, on 4 June 2013, the Promovetro Consortium, which was available from the first moment to restore them free of charge, welcomed the thirty-two boxes and their contents to Murano.

Escorted by the Fire Brigade of Ferrara, by the Carabinieri of the Artistic Heritage Protection Unit and by the Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethnoanthropological Heritage of Bologna, who followed all the phases of the transport, among the curious glances of the Venetians and tourists, along the banks and on the bridges of the city, the injured chandeliers, after decades, had returned home to be lovingly cared for by expert hands.

An initial team of experts from the Consortium carefully studied and evaluated, together with the Superintendency of Bologna, the methods of intervention for the recovery or replacement of each individual piece that made up the chandeliers, favoring a conservative action.It was a working group destined to grow over time, in terms of professionalism and number, to meet the various intervention problems that were gradually encountered during the restoration activity which, coordinated by the Consortium, began with the cataloging of the elements and with the study of the processing technique used to create the original glass parts and also to try to give a possible chronological collocation to the artefacts themselves.

Over 30 drawing tables were thus created to support this activity, classifying every single glass element (fondini[2], foglie, fiori, ricci, pastorali[3], bracci[4], finali[5] e finalini[6], mazze[7], passatopi o passasorze[8], pendenti[9], tazze[10], papaor[11]) but also in wood (piastre[12] e candles) or in metal (metal structures, hooks, plates, arms).

At the same time, the state of conservation of the glass and wooden elements, the structural parts and the electrical system present was analysed.The methodologies to be followed in the event of replacement of all missing or irrecoverable elements were agreed upon as the new elements, where possible, necessarily had to be distinguished from the originals.

The overall planned intervention was presented during the conference organized by the Promovetro Consortium “Between art, craftsmanship and solidarity: the state of progress of the restoration work of the chandeliers of the Municipality of Sant’Agostino that survived the earthquake”, which was held on Wednesday 20 November 2013 at the representative headquarters of the Venice Chamber of Commerce which was attended by representatives of the institutional bodies involved, the Fire Brigade and some teachers from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

As regards the actual restoration activity, in Murano four furnaces belonging to the Consortium (De Majo Illuminazione, Seguso Gianni, Simone Cenedese, Signoretto Lampadari) took care of the reconstruction of almost half of the over one thousand glass elements that made up the monumental chandelier and the three small surviving chandeliers. Masters and staff of the glassworks divided the tasks and elements between themselves, creating in the furnace, with original samples and drawings in hand, the spare parts necessary to bring the chandeliers back to life, using the Murano processes refined over the centuries and handed down from father to son.The main techniques used by master glassmakers and their assistants – – “piazza”[13] in jargon – in making glass elements in the furnaces were those of soffiatura a bocca[14] e a mano volante[15]. 

Also in Murano, two companies (Fratelli Barbini and Ongaro & Fuga) took care of the glass decorations of the largest plate of the monumental chandelier (4th floor) while an expert decorator (Albertini & Spezzamonte) took care of the gold decoration of the bases present , bringing the parts back to their original beauty.

A Venetian turner craftsman (Angelo Dalla Venezia), on the other hand, expert in woodworking, took care of the decorative candles, largely inevitably worm-eaten with time, which were recovered, restored and adapted for the large chandelier and totally redone for the smaller chandeliers. , while maintaining the original beauty unchanged.

A Murano mechanical workshop (Bucella Leandro & Brenno) also took care of the restoration of all the metal components that made up the chandeliers with great attention and accuracy, without deliberately intervening on the original color assumed by the parts over time but instead replacing the wooden plates now irrecoverable which were part of the larger one with handcrafted metal plates.A Venetian artisan workshop (Fucina del Ferro Battuto de Rossi) was responsible for remaking the decorative iron elements of the small chandeliers, the crocette[16], which manually, one by one, partially reproduced them following the original shapes.

With respect to the technological choice for lighting, a solution was opted for which included bringing the electrical system up to standard and using energy-saving LED bulbs with the same luminous intensity as the original lights, thanks to the intervention of a company specialized in the sector which during its activity also dealt with the restoration of the chandeliers of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice following the fire which occurred on 29 January 1996 (First Group).

Two fun facts emerged during the restoration: the first was the discovery of a newspaper fragment, presumably from 6 or 7 May 1932 or 1933 in which on one side an article referred to the death of the President of the French Republic Paul Daumer, author of the book “Le livre de mes fils” and on the other commemorated the death of three fascist martyrs which occurred in Cittadella, in the Padua area: Angelo Fosco Bragadin, a medical student from Chioggia, Gian Vittore Mezzomo, an engineering student from Feltre and Gianbattista Fumei, student of a technical institute in Agordo. This cutout probably served at the time to block a shaky and unstable wooden candle.

The second curiosity was the discovery on a metal plate of one of the small chandeliers, during the cleaning phase, of an engraving bearing the name of the company that had created the metal element – Eremberto Bucella – which later turned out to be, with pride and surprise, that of the uncle of the owners of the workshop itself who was taking care of the restoration.

The team work concluded on Friday 12 December 2014, after washing all the elements, with the assembly and lighting of the restored chandeliers in the presence of representatives of the Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage of Bologna and all the artisans and professionals who gave their contribution to the restoration activity, a worthy conclusion to a story which, with passion and a spirit of collaboration, involved many people and professionalism to give a light for Emilia Romagna.

[1] The “Cimiero” it is the top decorative plane or “upper garden” used to further enrich the chandelier, reach greater heights and cover the support cables and electrical cables from view.

[2] Fondino: Glass cup, generally decorated on the upper edge with a transparent or colored glass application of various thicknesses, called filo, which if wavy is called morise. It is used to cover the perforated wooden or metal plate that houses the arms, leaves, flowers, curls, pastorals and decorations in general that make up the classic Venetian chandelier and the electrical components.

[3] They are decorative glass elements in the shape of a leaf, flower, hedgehog or that recall the (pastoral) staff, symbol of the bishop’s authority.

[4] Curved glass elements which house the candles or – since the advent of electricity – the lamp holders at the upper end. They can be made of solid glass, blown or composed of multiple elements called bossettes.

[5] The “Finale” it is generally, in classic Murano chandeliers, the penultimate decoration that is fixed to the final base.

[6] It is generally the last decorative part below the finish usually characterized by a hanging element.

[7] Decorative glass element of different shape and size that covers the metal load-bearing structure of the chandelier.

[8] The Passatopo or passasorze is a glass element generally shaped like a cylindrical spool, used in classic chandeliers to distance the base from the finish.

[9] Pendant elements, with the most diverse shapes (ball, olive, etc.), generally positioned thanks to a ring or recèla (glass slot) on the arms of the chandeliers or in the finish.

[10] Cup-shaped glass elements positioned at the end of the arm that originally collected the melted wax of the candle.

[11] The Papaoris the cylindrical glass candle holder. Originally it housed the candle and nowadays the lamp holder, beneath which the cup is placed.

[12] Wooden or perforated metal components that house the arms and decorations that make up the chandelier.

[13] The “Piazza” is a work group led by the master, originally made up of four to eight people called servants, servants and apprentices depending on their role.

[14] Mouth blowing is the glassmaking technique par excellence, used when you intend to create an element or a hollow object through the use of the blowing pipe (perforated tube) followed by modeling through the use of the typical tools of master glassmakers: panniers (pliers of different shapes and sizes necessary for modeling, cutting and decorating hot glass) and tagianti (scissors of different shapes) first and foremost.

[15] The “mano volante” (litteraly: flying hand) processing is entrusted to the skill and manual skill of the master and therefore takes place without the use of molds (which are generally made of cherry wood but can also be made of cast iron or other metals such as brass and bronze , capable of giving a shape or decoration to the object).

 [16] Decorative wrought iron elements in different shapes used to hide support cables and electrical cables from view.