Viterbo-based ceramic artist Cinzia Chiulli has created a ceramic depiction of Saint Rosa, which was presented to the president of the porters’ association (sodalizio dei facchini), Massimo Mecarini.
The artwork, crafted on a slab of local peperino stone using the *zaffera* technique—a distinctive ceramic style from the local medieval period—portrays the saint holding a blue rose that partially obscures her face. A corolla of small blue roses also frames her visage.
The piece was donated this morning during a press conference held at the Palazzo dei Priori to present the charity dinners organized by the Santa Rosa porters.
“The saint’s face is deliberately hidden by the rose,” explained Chiulli, “to focus attention not on her outward appearance but on her symbolic role as a benefactor of good. Meanwhile, the verticality of the flower’s stem acts as a conduit between heaven and earth, a point of contact between the human and the divine, which we also see in the elevation of the Macchina di Santa Rosa itself.”
The ceramic will be displayed at the entrance to the association’s museum in Viterbo’s medieval San Pellegrino quarter.
© Copyright ANSA – All rights reserved