Sculptpedia Statues, Busts and Sculptures Park sculptures and installations Ancient World & Antiquity Middle Ages & Renaissance Marble & Other Stones Bronze & Other Metals

Via Crucis

Via Crucis is a work by the Italian sculptor Michele Vedani, located on the parish road of Don Giovanni Battista Rocca in Esino Lario, in the province of Lecco, leading to the parish church of San Victor Martyr. It was made between 1939 and 1940 with bronze panels inset into the chapels, which had originally been decorated with frescoes from 1831. The bronze was donated by local residents and tourists, while Vedani donated the work himself, as his daughter Minuccia had wished. She died in her twenties and asked her father to create a work in Esino in gratitude to the town that had hosted them for a long time.

A wooden bench with a hanging plaque stands in a grassy area facing a green mountainside.
Via Crucis bench with a plaque, set outdoors in a grassy landscape facing the mountains.
July 2011 © · CC BY-SA 3.0
Faded fresco of an angel holding a cloth with a face, with the Latin inscription \
A faded fresco inside the Via Crucis at Esino Lario shows an angel holding a cloth with a face and the inscription \"FAC ME VERE\".
June 2016 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Via Crucis metal plaque with raised Italian inscription
A metal inscription plaque from the Via Crucis monument, showing raised Italian text and historical dates.
September 2024 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Three nuns walking along a tree-lined path with a village on the hillside in the background.
Three nuns walk along a path in Esino Lario, with the village visible on the slope behind them.
© · CC BY-SA 2.5
Five people gathered outdoors, with two seated on a stone bench and others standing nearby in conversation.
Five people chat outdoors beside a stone bench.
June 2016 © · CC BY-SA 3.0

Identification

TitleVia Crucis
Typesculptural Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross)
Related later workLa Resurrezione
Alternative nameVia della Croce

Creator

ArtistMichele Vedani
Artist nationalityItalian
Related later work artistMichele Vedani

Historical context

Commission or motivationCreated at the request of Vedani's daughter Minuccia, who died at about twenty years old, asking her father to make something in Esino to thank the town that had hosted them for a long time
Date of creation1939–1940
Related later work date1968

Location and ownership

Related later work locationCappella Grande at the end of the Via Crucis
Destination of the routeParish church of San Vittore Martire
LocationVia parrocchiale Don Giovanni Battista Rocca, Esino Lario, province of Lecco, Italy

Physical characteristics

MaterialsBronze plaques set into the chapels

Technique

Technique / installationBronze plaques embedded in chapels

History and restoration

Artist's donationVedani donated his work
Original condition of the chapelsOriginally frescoed in 1831

Discovery and provenance

Bronze donationDonated by the inhabitants and holidaymakers of the town