Four artists, four themes, four styles for a liturgical dress that inspires and transmits powerful sensations and messages while remaining faithful to tradition.
Back “Devotio”, The great international fair of products and services for the religious world. This event, now in its third edition, will open next Sunday 19th June at BolognaFiere and will end on Tuesday 21st.
A comeback in style
The growth in attendance is remarkable, compared to the last pre-pandemic edition of 2019: in fact, 200 exhibitors are expected (176 in 2019), coming from Italy and 15 other countries, on a total area of 15 thousand square meters (11 thousand in 2019). Thousands of devotional products and objects for worship will be presented, such as crucifixes, rosaries, sacred images, statues, incense and candles, stained glass and mosaics, liturgical vestments, sacred art, church furnishings and clothing for the clergy.
Sunday 19 is also announced the visit of cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and newly elected president of the CEI. “This fair wants to represent the moment of the restart for the sector of religious articles in Italy, after the very hard period of the last two years which has also seen companies in this sector in great difficulty, but which are now ready to return to the domestic market and international with new products ”, he confirmed Valentina Zattini, Devotio exhibition manager. “The growth in the number of exhibitors and the arrival in Bologna of visitors from all over the world are important signs, which will contribute to making Devotio 2022 the unmissable event for bringing together the protagonists of the religious sector”.
Arts and crafts go hand in hand
A sector like that of the religious object, however much it grows – and it is good! – must maintain contact with the spirituality of the aesthetic experience, and therefore with art, a source of inspiration and reinvention of classic stylistic models. Invention understood in its double meaning: idea that comes from the new and discovery of what already exists. Past and future hold hands and guide the present, that is, life. This is why there is always room in Devotio for experimentation and creativity, as is the case with the beautiful exhibition of chasubles, made in collaboration withSirio Atelier and the Diocesan Museum of Faenza:
Sirio Atelier, an artisan workshop born in 1995, deals with the design and manufacture of personalized liturgical vestments, and textile restoration and for years has been committed to making its creations unique, sometimes collaborating with artists, designers, architects and weavers. Thanks to these collaborations, this year Atelier Sirio, in collaboration with the Diocesan Museum of Faenzawill participate in the exhibition entitled “The liturgical chasuble: four artists compared”Which will be held in Bologna on the occasion of Devotio. The artists Rachele Biaggi, Lucia Nanni Bubilda, Elvis Spadoni and Enrico Versari will exhibit their works, together with an unpublished creation of the Atelier.
