The paintings on the buildings in Chiavenna&´s historic centre express both the taste and style of a cultured town whose grandeur is also evident in the magnificent frescoes that have resurfaced in recent years. That the historic centre of Chiavenna is the best preserved in the province is unarguable. Seriously torched by the neighbouring grison in 1486 during one of their raids, and who conquered both town and valley in 1512 leading to its Renaissance reconstruction. Most typical and plentiful are the potstone portals all either with curved or lintelarches, characterised by apotropaic masks - monstrous figures to ward off evil spirits, and coats of arms, often erased at the end of the 18th century by the Cisalpines, who took over from the Grisons. But what distinguishes them are the inscriptions engraved on religious or moral themes, in Latin or Italian with corresponding dates: from 1517, the oldest, throughout the second decade almost all were to disappear, but in recent modern times, thanks to municipal regulation that makes it obligatory to examine the walls, in two cases it
has been possible to recover the original decoration, despite it having been erased entirely.
Via Dolzino n. 57: at this residence, above the Ghidoni tobacconist, it&´s now possible to appreciate the fully decorated facade that was retrieved in 2000. Monochrome paintings, commissioned in 1591 by a protestant owner, depicting King Henry III and King Henry IV of France followed by a section of a bucolic nature and two symmetrical panels bearing biblical episodes. More specifically it portrays Judith beheading Holofernes, a tale told in the Book of Judith, when the biblical heroine goes to the enemy camp and kills the savage general. The panel on the right, depicts the episode when Esther begs her husband Xerxes to spare the Jewish people. Both spectacles are packed with detail and require careful reading in order to grasp the full significance.
Piazza Pestalozzi n. 1 and 2: a series of frescoes has surfaced on the 3 floors. Between 2 floors with decorative monochrome diamond prism motifs, three scenes inspired by the Annunciation are featured. To the left the angel Gabriel with the standard fleur-de-lis, announces the birth of Jesus to the Madonna who is kneeling, hands across her breast in front of a lectern. In the centre, the figure of God the Father has his right hand turned towards the Madonna, from which sunbeams reach out to the landscape below, with houses and a terraced meadow within which a stream is flowing. Everything points to a date of the 16th century. The entrance portal from the via Sister Maria Laura Mainetti also bears the date 1598. Together with the aforementioned "protestant" walls these represent 16th century frescoes of considerable artistic and historical value. Well worth a close look as they reflect the taste and sensitivities of the town&´s wealthiest at an important historical stage in Chiavenna.
