{"id":299,"date":"2026-05-20T00:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/?post_type=news_intervista&p=299"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:53:34","slug":"madaudo-rilegge-san-benedetto-quellafricano-patrono-di-palermo","status":"publish","type":"news_intervista","link":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/news\/madaudo-rilegge-san-benedetto-quellafricano-patrono-di-palermo\/","title":{"rendered":"Madaudo \u201creinterprets\u201d Saint Benedict, the African patron saint of Palermo"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALERMO. (lcb) After so many journeys, his imagination still dreams of travelling around the world with a caravan like the one in Pinocchio<\/em>. For the past two years, however, the painter Beppe Madaudo has returned to Palermo in order \u201cto stay.\u201d To rediscover the history and colours of his city through a journey \u2014 also an inner one \u2014 that led him to encounter Saint Benedict the Moor, patron saint of Palermo since 1652.<\/p>\r\n

To the Black Franciscan saint, born in San Fratello in 1526 and who died in Palermo sixty-three years later, Madaudo dedicated an oil painting in order to restore his face, whose features are missing from the body preserved in the Church of Santa Maria del Ges\u00f9. The panel will be donated to the city, into the hands of Mayor Leoluca Orlando, and will remain on display at Palazzo delle Aquile.<\/p>\r\n

This afternoon at 5 p.m., meanwhile, on the occasion of the inauguration of a Madaudo exhibition at Piero Caldarera\u2019s Corimbo Loft (Via Principe di Belmonte 12, side entrance on Via Crispi, open until June 6), the artist, using an old printing press and four copper plates for the etchings, will progressively soak the paper with four different inks \u2014 yellow, red, sepia, and blue \u2014 to produce a limited edition of only 300 prints depicting the Saint in full figure beside two palm trees.<\/p>\r\n

Benedict, born to African slave parents brought to Sicily by the Moors, was later freed and entered the hermitage of Girolamo Lanza, where he served as cook, guardian, and master of novices. He was beatified in 1743 and canonized in 1807, though he had already been declared patron saint of the city in 1652.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cLeoluca Orlando,\u201d says Madaudo, \u201copened one of my exhibitions in Wil, Switzerland. On that occasion he spoke to me about Saint Benedict the Moor, whom I knew only superficially, like most people from Palermo. He described him to me as a tender figure, illiterate, yet capable of interpreting the Holy Scriptures. He asked me to create a painting because the Saint\u2019s iconography was very limited.<\/p>\r\n

For modern painters, approaching sacred subjects is not usual; it was necessary to create a contemporary painting without falling into the trap of making a devotional holy card, while still expressing sanctity, the strength of the hands that healed, and the connection between his African origins and our city.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

How did he imagine the face of Saint Benedict the Moor?<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI saw his body, preserved at Santa Maria di Ges\u00f9, whose wax face lacks any features. When the time came to paint the face, not having the subject before me, I recalled the image of a seventeenth-century Neapolitan shepherd boy, with dark skin, a spark of life in his eyes, and a sweetness and simplicity in his gaze.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Loredana Cacicia Biondo<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":301,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-299","news_intervista","type-news_intervista","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_intervista\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_intervista"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news_intervista"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaudo.art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}