Today marks 800 years since the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures, a hymn to beauty. And today, we find ourselves immersed in that beauty.
So, thank you all for being here.

Antonio Capaccio is an artist of remarkable depth.
Antonio Capaccio is a well-rounded intellectual. Over the years, the people of Vicoforte and Mondovì have had the opportunity to appreciate his talents as a curator, through numerous exhibitions he has organized in our area, involving artists of national significance—not only painters, but also poets, musicians, and performers. On this occasion, however, the absolute protagonist is he himself—or rather, his art.

His biography can be read in the press release or easily found online. His mastery, his profound culture, his talent, and his refinement are all visible here today.

With this work—one might say, majestic—which Capaccio chose to create for the community of Vicoforte, and which from now on can be admired by all those who visit Vicoforte—because the work will remain here permanently—the artist has decided to pay tribute to the artistic tradition of our town, reinterpreting it through his own contemporary sensibility.

The past, represented by the precious 17th-century banner—now preserved in the council chamber of the Municipality, but once located right here, in the niche above the altar of this confraternity—lives again in the large altarpiece created by Capaccio today.

Figures, graphic elements, abstract flourishes.
Color, areas intentionally left white, the use of grey and black. The artist blends figurative and abstract art, offering a synthesis of his entire artistic journey, which over time has alternated between purely abstract works, more baroque ones, and others that are distinctly figurative. All are consistently marked by an extreme attention to balance, technical precision, harmony, and elegance—in short, beauty.

The altarpiece arrived from Rome just a few days ago. Until today, no one had been able to see it. And no one knew its title—by the artist’s own choice.

This was to allow each of us—every viewer, every observer who stands before the altar—to experience authentic, personal, and genuine emotions, grounded in individual taste and personal experience, not influenced by external opinions from the media or critics, nor diminished by previously reproduced images of the work.
To allow us to be surprised.

Unfortunately, the artist could not be present today. But his work is here, displayed precisely where the ancient banner that inspired it once stood.
And here it will remain forever.

It is a work on canvas, created using acrylic materials. Its dimensions are approximately 210 cm wide by 250 cm high. I say “approximately” because Capaccio calculated the measurements of the empty space down to the millimeter, ensuring a perfect fit between the canvas and what now becomes its frame.

Its title is “The Virgin of the Battuti.”
The Virgin: in my view, this is what Capaccio imagined as the completion of the banner. But even if that were not the case, it certainly appears to be a completion—rigorous yet at the same time poetic.

The artist chose this title and wrote it on the back of the stretcher frame, together with the date and his signature, before entrusting his work forever to Vicoforte.

All of this has been made possible thanks to the close collaboration between the VIA association and the Municipality of Vicoforte, which, with great commitment, have devoted all their energy and expertise to achieving this exceptional result.