💚🤍❤️ Unlocking Altare:
Adventure, Artistry, and Mystery in the Heart of the Ligurian Apennines
Welcome to Altare, a charming, quaint mountain village snuggled in the Ligurian Apennines, just a short 7 miles northwest of the city of Savona. Home to about 2000 inhabitants, life takes a sweet, slow pace here. Perfect for people who love to explore trails on foot or by bike, surrounded by lush green hills.
But hold on! Altare isn't all about outdoor life. Did you know this tiny village is renowned for its age-old mastery of glassmaking dating back to the 11th century? Here talented maestri vetrai, master glassblowers, reputedly learned their trade from the French masters of Orléans and Nevers. Others think the Benedictine monks passed down their glassblowing secrets.
Altare’s glassmakers formed the Università Vetraria guild, active until 1823, before uniting as the Società Artistica Vetraria in 1864. An exciting twist, considering when we talk Italian glass, the mind typically drifts to the famed Venetian Murano glassware. But Altare offers something unique:
At the Museo dell'Arte Vetraria Altarese, you can marvel at glass art objects dating from 1750 to 1950. They even run workshops for you to experience the magic of glassblowing. Looking for souvenirs? Check out the cristallerie, local shops selling colourful crystalware.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, during the Art Nouveau period, or as the Italians like to call it, Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale some stunning villas were built, Villa Agar, Villa Rosa, and Villa Bordoni. Today, Villa Agar serves as a rest home for gli anziani, for seniors, while Villa Rosa is the home of the Museo dell'Arte Vetraria Altarese. Villa Bordoni unfortunately is in decay.
The existence of these elegant structures earned Altare the moniker of la piccola Parigi, the little Paris.
Two Ligurian authors, Giorgio Baietti and Luca Valentini, dove deep into Altare's history, uncovering fascinating facts. But the intrigue doesn't stop at glassblowing and architecture.
In Liguria, Valentini says, c'è molto di misterioso, there is much mystery. There have been events that we know actually took place, because they are recorded in ancient documents, such as the witch trials in Triora, but also unexplained observations, sagas, and legends, which fall under the tradizione orale and are passed on by oral tradition, such as a mysterious tale about Altare, revolving around la ricchezza di Don Bertolotti, the sudden wealth of Monsignor Bertolotti:
Giuseppe Giovanni Bertolotti, born in 1842, began his pastoral duties in Altare in 1865. He starts by restoring and decorating the Chiesa di Sant Eugenio, which we find in the Piazza Monsignore Bertolotti.
During the work, which will continue until 1927, workmen find a skeleton behind the large stained-glass window, sitting on a chair, heels together, and turned to the East. Is this a reference to another clergyman, the French Bérenger Saunière from Rennes Le Chateau, who, after his death, would not have been laid out on a bed, but was put in a similar position, turned to the East?
Others see a connection with the Massoneria, the Free Masons, who, standing in front of the altar, with their heels together, and face East, would take their vows.
In the church's interior, the Stations of the Cross of the Via Crucis are placed antiorario, counterclockwise. A statue of San Rocco, the patron Saint of glassblowers, appears to have a wound in the right leg, while according to tradition this must be the left.
After unearthing these enigmatic findings Bertolotti came into a sudden, vast wealth. He erected villas for his sisters (Villa Agar built for his sister Enrichetta, for Rosalia, his second sister, Villa Rosa, and for Cesarina, the third sister, a Palazzo on the church square), and funded various projects, such as a childcare center and a meteorological observation station, puzzling locals and visitors alike.
His story echoes the mysterious saga of his French counterpart Bérenger Saunière, known as the mystery of Rennes Le Chateau.
Saunière also starts with the restoration of the village church, the Sainte Marie Madeleine in his case. Under the altar, he is said to have found mysterious parchment scrolls with strange signs. The bishop summons Saunière to Paris to have the signs deciphered, which was not successful. Home again, he turns around the Via Crucis and has the holy water vessel held by a nasty devilish figure. Above the entrance of his church, he has the phrase Terribilis Est Locus Iste, engraved; which can be translated as: What an awe-inspiring place this is”, Genesis 28.11-17).
Intrigued by this mystery, the British journalist Henry Lincoln, with co-authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, wrote a controversial book: Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982). In the book, supported by imaginative assumptions, he proposes the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and had children with her. Saunière discovered proof of the existence of these descendants, who would still be among us and would be protected by a secret society; the Priory of Sion. The concept of the Holy Grail, according to the authors, should therefore not be interpreted as the cup with the blood of Christ after his crucifixion, or as used at the Last Supper, but as the Old French word sangreal - sang - blood, real - royal, the royal blood of the descendants of Jesus. Later the concept was adopted by Dan Brown in his bestselling novel The da Vinci Code (2003).
So here we have two modest village priests who suddenly possessed enormous unexplained wealth after mysterious church renovations. . .
Did Giuseppe Bertolotti and his French counterpart, Bérenger Saunière, uncover earth-shattering secrets? Did they stumble upon ancient documents detailing the truth about Jesus'descendants, as suggested by Henry Lincoln’s book? Were they offered prestigious church positions and paid fortunes to keep them silent?
We might never know. . .
Bertolotti and Saunière chose to remain in their villages until their deaths. The mystery of their wealth remains unsolved.
Enigmatic tales that continue to fascinate. . .
Whether they are rooted in fact or are simply captivating folk tales remains unclear. However, they undeniably add a dash of intrigue to your visit to Altare.
Here's your chance to engage with this rich history, basking in the tranquil life of a Ligurian village.
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Source reference:
Maria Vittoria Cascino, Misteri nella chiesa di Altare sulle tracce del Sacro Graal per Il Giornale.it, 14 Dicembre 2007.
Valentina Fiore, Le vetrate di Villa Rosa: uno straordinario esempio di Liberty ad Altare in Alte Vitrie, brochure dell’Istituto per lo studio del vetro e dell’Arte vetraria, Altare, 2022.
Giorgio Baietti, Lo specchio inverso, Edizioni Lindau, Torino, 2007.
Luca Valentini, I misteri della Liguria, Atene Edizioni, Arma di Taggia, 2017.
http://www.comune.altare.sv.it/
http://www.museodelvetro.org/
https://www.rennes-le-chateau.fr/
Text Liguria Letters © 2023