Il completamento della facciata della chiesa–ossario di Mussoi a Belluno (1935–1949). L’architetto Alberto Alpago–Novello e le arti figurative

The paper focuses on the completion of the church–ossuary of Mussoi in Belluno, in particular the fresco planned for its façade. The subject of the fresco was originally conceived by the church’s designer, the architect Alberto Alpago–Novello (1889–1985). Various artists, including Aldo Carpi, Luigi Tito, Luigi Filocamo, Pino Casarini and Pietro Cortellezzi, had drawn up their own original plans for the work, prior to its conception. Ultimately, the fresco was created by Cortellezzi, and finished in 1949, over a decade after the church’s construction. Though an apparently complicated business, it is a perfect example of the relationship between the exponents of different arts in the interwar period. Prominent architects of the time aspired to artistic complexity in their work. The multiplicity of the stakeholders involved in such a project is also emblematic; from the church’s patronage, being the main benefactor, to the building’s designer, each intent on having their say in the work’s completion. The three appendices provide documentary insight into key moments of these relationships during the project and the tangible progress of completing its various parts.