The friars of the Basilica of San Francesco and the entire city of Assisi paid homage, on Friday afternoon, to maestro Sergio Fusetti and his fifty-year career, of which the last 27 were spent taking care of that great treasure that is the Basilica.
Sergio Fusetti arrived in Umbria 50 years ago, called by the Superintendence when he was in Rome to restore some frescoes in the Basilica: having fallen in love with the city from the first entrance from via San Giacomo, for a period, from Assisi, Fusetti worked on the cultural heritage of throughout Umbria, also creating a restoration company that has dealt and continues to deal with cultural heritage throughout Italy. In 1997 the great tragedy of the earthquake, which ‘forced’ the Master to deal ‘only’ with the Basilica, first with the ‘Cantiere dell’Utopia’ – a record restoration in two years and limited costs, ‘only’ one billion lire , equal to 500,000 euros today, which closed on 5 April 2006 – and then ‘ordinary’ maintenance.
Fifty thousand remained outside the Utopia construction site fragments by Giotto and Cimabue – pieces of starry sky, segments of figures, bricks from the 1200s with pieces of fresco attached and many small painted crosses – which today are all catalogued, numbered and placed in hundreds of small drawers. “There was Superintendent Paolucci, appointed extraordinary commissioner, who followed every phase and the Custos who pounded his fists on the table and reminded every day that it was necessary to finish before the Jubilee”, Sergio Fusetti recalled to Corriere della Sera years ago. “The rose window was removed and 1300 tons of debris were removed. Thanks to the volunteers they were transported to the lawn. A tent city was born as the first shelter for the fragments. Separated, so that those of Giotto and those of Cimabue would not mix. Mattresses were laid out to preserve them better”. Most of those fragments have returned to their place, others are in many small drawers: “In the past the friars would have swept them away. I – Fusetti again in the 2017 interview with Corriere I don’t despair of putting them back in their place. There is a project from the Normale di Pisa and one from the University of Bari, which, with the help of technology, can create an ad hoc program. There are those who have suggested selling them to finance maintenance which has very high costs. But as long as I’m here, they’ll be safe”.
While waiting to be able to realize the dream of being able to recompose them, as part of the two days on the theme “Thirteenth-century Umbria as a crossroads of cultures”, a joint initiative between the Sacred Convent and the National Gallery of Umbria, in the Cimabue Room of the conference center Colle del Paradiso, in addition to a meeting on the works of the Master of San Francesco exhibited in Perugia for a few more hours, the Franciscan community and the city civil authorities said thanks to Fusetti for his work. Present among others were Mauro Gambetti, former custodian of the Basilica and now cardinal, and his successor Fra Marco Moroni who expressed the gratitude of the entire community: “Competence, professionalism, love and passion. Four nouns to summarize the work of Maestro Sergio Fusetti in these fifty years. Competence and professionalism acquired in the field and perfected over time, in contact with the art masterpieces of the Basilica. Love and passion for one’s work and for what beauty can convey. And on these terms – said Moroni – I also combine profound respect for the institution that this place represents and for those who animate it. Through this event we express our thanks to Sergio Fusetti for all this and for his friendship”.
