Telemaco Signorini in Riomaggiore

In 1860, when Telemaco Signorini discovered Riomaggiore , he never imagined that he would give to this town, born and raised in a fold of rock, a place in Art History. There is a little known anecdote: Signorini saw one day in the market square of La Spezia, some women dressed in a different way than the others. They told him that they were from Riomaggiore, so Signorini decided to go there to paint, and get to know the place.  The Florentine artist arrived there through the mountains, because the railway was still to be built some fourteen years later, 1864. He was not received too well, even the locals ran home and disappeared. But he did not lose heart but began to paint the houses of Riomaggiore and its women.

After a few months at intervals from 1992 to 1997, he settled in a house near the church of San Giovanni, with a small terrace overlooking the village and the sea. There Signorini painted several pictures, one with the view of the church, among others.  Signorini's love for Riomaggiore is collected in these paintings that inspired other macchiaiolo landscapes, unique and changeable, and the most characteristic figures that animated him. In broad strokes, full of color, the play of light and shadow, design and wonderful cut of perspectives, there is all the soul, the light, the scenery of the village which only Signorini could see and understand: there are houses and rocks, the sun and the sea, vineyards and olive trees, the streets and squares.