Photos by Roberto Alborghetti

It is the largest painted canvas in the world: a trompe-l’oeil artwork 75 meters long and with an area of ​​720 square meters. Still largely ignored, this spectacular piece of art is located in Maddaloni, not so far from Caserta, a city known for its Royal Palace.

Painted and built by the Funaro brothers around 1756, it is located on the vault of the main hall of the Giordano Bruno national boarding school, a school (with frequency from primary to classical high school) housed in the ancient convent which, according to some of the most accredited sources, was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. In the cloister grows a lemon tree that tradition says was planted by the Poverello. And therefore at the center of wonders and healings.

The great project of the canvas was commissioned in the same period in which the works for the Royal Palace of Caserta began, in a period of great economic and cultural ferment. The canvas appears to be seamless and covers the imposing rectangular hall. The three allegories of the Triumph of Faith over Heresy are depicted among the perspective games that illusively and vertically enlarge the space of the room. It is a pictorial and visual “deception” of great effect and impact.
In a smaller room, which overlooks the frescoed monumental staircase, another smaller canvas can be admired to the ceiling, but which recalls the motifs of the main canvas.

It is said that the actor Tom Cruise, during the filming of Mission Impossible in the Royal Palace of Caserta, made several guided tours in the Caserta area. Among the places visited there was also the Convitto di Maddaloni. Impressed by the devastating beauty of the large canvas, he donated 25 thousand euros for the restoration of the artwork, in particular for the secondary canvas.

The ancient Franciscan convent in Maddaloni is a jewel to be discovered, like the underground path, which develops into cells and spaces that were brought to light – it should be said – only in the 90s. In the photogallery, some images relating to the large canvas and pics about the convent.