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Painter, born and died in Moena, Italy. While serving in the Italian Army in North Africa in World War II, he was taken prisoner and sent to the Orkney island of Lamb Holm to help erect the Churchill Barriers, sealing the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. When two Nissen huts were made available to the Italian prisoners of Camp 60 in late 1943, Chiocchetti and craftsmen created what became known as the Italian Chapel. The sanctuary vault was frescoed by Chiocchetti, his masterpiece being a painting of the Madonna and Child, behind the altar, based on Nicolo Barabina’s Madonna of the Olives, a battered postcard of which Chiocchetti carried. When Camp 60 was disbanded in 1945, he stayed on for a time to complete his work. After the formation of a preservation committee in 1958 Chiocchetti was traced to Moena, where he worked as a painter and decorator, and in 1960 with BBC assistance he returned to Lamb Holm to restore his work.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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