Hundreds To Take Part in Italy's First Major Fresco in Centuries

Pisa, Italy — Hundreds of people in Pisa have leapt at the chance to be immortalized in the first major fresco to be painted in Italy for more than two centuries. The 1,700-square-foot painting will tell the story of Ranierus, Pisa's patron saint, in eight scenes across an entire wall of the Church of San Vito, in the city center.

In the best Renaissance tradition, Luca Battini, the 37-year-old artist, invited 100 prominent Pisans to represent leading figures in the fresco. He held castings to find 150 extras.

"I told some people to go away three or four times, but they kept coming back humbly," the artist said. "The whole city feels very strongly about St Ranierus and there is a huge pressure. "

It has been common practice for centuries to insert rich and famous patrons into frescoes. In one of Italy's most celebrated examples, in 1461, Benozzo Gozzoli painted Cosimo Medici and his son Lorenzo "The Magnificent" into his fresco of the Magi in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence.