Carlo Sbisà

D’Annunzio dettala Carta del Quarnaro in the Albori Palace in Rijeka

Abstract

The paper examines the fresco painting promoted by the ruling ideology between the two world wars in Italy, specifically Rijeka, which was part of Italian territory at the time. The case study focuses on the fresco D’Annunzio detta la Carta del Quarnaro, painted in 1942 by Carlo Sbisà from Trieste, located in the atrium of the residential and commercial Albori Palace (“Rijeka’s Skyscraper”). The fresco is compared with relevant examples from Trieste, Florence, and Milan, cultural centres where the artist matured and worked. Before his engagement in Rijeka, Sbisà completed his wall-painting oeuvre in his hometown of Trieste, which significantly influenced the conception of this fresco. This paper highlights the fact that it has not been completely destroyed, contributing to the evaluation of the only fresco decoration Sbisà created outside of Trieste, which, in terms of both content and artistic-formal aspect, transcends the ideological framework of the time in which it was created. The Rijeka fresco forms an integral part of the building in which it is located and serves as an illustrative example of the revival of fresco painting in Italy during the interwar period, which also left its mark on the local context.