Update: ‘Chiesa Campestre, Roncaglia’ is one of DPW Facebook picks of the day!

This painting is a tribute to my beloved homeland, a place that I will always carry in my heart.

I am filled with emotion as I gaze upon my first painting of 2022, a little rural church (Chiesa Campestre) near the ruins of Augusta Bagiennorum in my beloved native region of Southern Piedmont, Italy.

This is one of the many small Churches scattered in the countryside of my beloved northwestern region of Italy. I grew up with these common sightings, Piemonte’s landscape is so different from my adoptive Buckinghamshire.

After half of my life living in England, the colours of the fields, the shape of the bell tower and the horizon look so fresh and new. Everything is a wondrous discovery.

I always wondered what it was like for a stranger to see something that looked so familiar to me. Now, after living away for a long time, I know. It looks bewitching and captivating. With the added bonus for me of nostalgia and longing for the old days.

The act of painting ‘Chiesa Campestre, Roncaglia’ felt like a warm embrace from a long-lost friend.

I am particularly attached to it, I used to walk and cycle with my young family along the road nearby and when I was little my nonna used to tell me spine-tingling stories of Le Masche (the witches).

Apparently, they danced in the night around this little church.