Listening en inglés - A modern day fresco in San Vito

A modern day fresco in San Vito, Pisa.

If you think of frescoes you will probably think of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Countless figures and complex stories depicted on the walls and ceilings of sacred places. The fresco is very much associated with the Italian Renaissance period. But this art form does not only belong to the past.

In the church of San Vito in Pisa, the painting of frescoes is alive and well. The church was badly damaged in the second world war when fire bombs were dropped onto the town, but today a huge project is under way to bring a new fresco to life. The fresco will tell the story of Ranierus, Pisa's patron Saint. The work is being done by the Tuscan artist and fresco painter, Luca Battini. This is what he says about the project, “I wanted to show to myself and others that it was possible with much effort and dedication to meet the same great challenges that confronted our forefathers. This is the great passion that drove me”.

The work is being carried out using all the old techniques, with paints being made from precious stones, to capture the blues and reds of centuries ago. The work is slow and laborious and often uncomfortable, as explains Luca Battini; “Your tired, cold. You go up and down the scaffolding dozens of time. Your legs hurt, your back hurts. You spend hours and hours bent over working on a small detail”.

And in the best fresco tradition, Battini uses faces from local people to put onto the fresco. In total about 200 locals will be depicted. Saint Ranierus himself has the face of an actor and the figure of Christ, standing over the Saint, has the features of a local postman. An unemployed man is also there as the face of a soldier. He says, “For me it is a privilege to be represented in the fresco. It makes me feel a citizen of Pisa, in the past the present and in the future”.

The fresco is far from finished and in the following years more people's faces will be painted into the scenes of the fresco.


Vocabulario.
ceilings > techo
En inglés usamos roof = techo que es el parte exterior y ceiling = techo que está dentro de un edificio.
The kitchen ceiling - El techo de la cocina.
The roof of the house. - El techo de la casa.  

fire bombs >  bombas incendiarias

huge > enorme.

challenges > desafíos

forefathers > antepasados

carried out (carry out) > llevar a cabo

drove me> Something that drives a person to do something is a force that makes the person do something.  Impulsado por, impulsar
Ejemplos:
They were driven by fear. > Fueron impulsados por el miedo.

scaffolding > andamios

features > rasgos faciales.

The fresco is far from finished > El fresco está lejos de terminar.

in the following years > en los siguientes años


Curso ingles online por Roy Robinson