The master Giorgio Michetti, certainly the last great painter of Viareggio, died in his studio in Via San Francesco on 17 June 2019 at the venerable age of 106 years. This year therefore marked the 5th anniversary of his passing, but as far as we know, no mention of ceremonies in memory of him appears to have been made in his hometown. Nothing to say because no one – or almost no one – is a prophet in his homeland. Perhaps because much of his life, not only artistic, was spent in northern Italy, and more specifically in Milan. In fact, he returned to Viareggio in his late but still very young artistic age as a painter, fresco artist, graphic designer and lithographer.
Among other things, he was also the inventor of anamorphic painting which is always testified by a folder containing, in fact, four lithographs printed in 70 copies, plus another 15 on special Fabriano paper, from the “Litografia Mariani” by Lissone in March 1979. It should be noted that the printed plates were doubled in the presence of the author, so that no others were printed.
His most important works, both frescoes and paintings, can be admired in Lombardy, Switzerland and Germany, where, among other things, large-scale anthological exhibitions have been held. But paintings by him in private collections are also in England and the United States of America. However, let’s not forget that he also left the mark of his art in Viareggio, painting – among other things – the “Four Seasons” in four panels of extraordinary beauty, a painting dedicated to the explosion in the city’s train station and a graffiti on the massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema which is located in the Resistance Museum of this locality.
Not to mention finally that splendid folder in which, under the name “Viareggio dispersa”, ours graphically recounts what has been lost, precisely, what constituted the ancient seaside village that stood along the “Burlamacca” canal and the church of the SS. Annunziata. Let’s not forget the teacher Michetti, because we still remember the painting lessons given for some years to the students of the “Barsanti and Matteucci” Scientific High School.
But beyond these notes which serve to frame the artistic personality of Giorgio Michetti, we like to remember the conversation we had personally a few days before his sudden death. In fact, in his studio he had for some time set up a “personal exhibition” of his paintings still in his possession, so much so that this exhibition had aroused a certain interest even in those who knew Giorgio Michetti only by name. “You see – he told us –, in front of these paintings that belong to the more or less recent past, it’s not that I feel nostalgic, but they are a stimulus to what I will do from here on out, because if without a doubt I am the longest-lived painter, at 106 years old I still have many things in mind that I will tell you later because now I’m going to eat my only daily meal: a plate of pasta and a glass of wine”.
Unfortunately, these “many things he had in mind” remained in his mind which was still alive, even without limits. Unfortunately, regardless of the fact that in the vast church of Sant’Antonio there was no free space during his funeral, supported by an interminable funeral homage, the only worry that Giorgio Michetti took to his grave was that of not having from Viareggio a real recognition. By the way, what happened to his “Alfa Romeo 2000” which under his hand had become a car-exhibition or a car-museum?
Mario Pellegrini
