The Art and Life of Bruno Balsamo: A Confluence of Maritime and Religious Heritage

Tomorrow at noon, the painting exhibition of the painter Bruno Balsamo will be inaugurated, set up in the premises of the former workers' mutual aid society in Sant'Agnello and included in the Easter events billboard 'Resurrexit' of the Municipality of Sant'Agnello, realized in synergy with the Confraternities of the territory, within the project 'Sant'Agnello. Lights, colors, and music - From the Profane to the Sacred', under the patronage of the Metropolitan City of Naples. The protagonists of the paintings are the hooded figures typical of the rites of the Sorrento Peninsula, a subject studied and interpreted from various artistic perspectives by the author: 'We are proud to host the exhibition of Capt. Bruno Balsamo - jointly declare Mayor Antonino Coppola and the Tourism Councilor Marcello Aversa - With his art and his dedication to dissemination, he has become over time a point of reference for the visual representation of the social, cultural, and anthropological phenomenon of processions'. The exhibition will be open until March 31st on weekdays from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM and on holidays from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM and from 4:20 PM to 8:00 PM. Biographical notes. In his teenage years, during the free periods from school commitments, he attended as an apprentice the family's naval mechanics workshop. In 1953 he graduated from the Nautical Institute of Piano di Sorrento. In the same year, being unable to sail due to draft obligations, he followed an annual improvement course with a scholarship from IRI at the Castellammare di Stabia Shipyard. At the end, he began his work activity in the Technical Office of the same Shipyard where he designed, among other things, engine apparatus installations for the motorships Arborea and Caralis of Tirrenia and for the motorships Erice and Megara of the Lauro Fleet. After four years, interspersed with a period of navigation as a machine officer cadet on a Canadian type Liberty steamer, he left the Shipyard and embarked with the same rank on the motorship Caralis of Tirrenia in its first armament. Considering the experience gained in the shipyard and onboard, he was transferred to the Technical Office of the General Direction of Tirrenia. In 1962 he embarked for a short period as third officer of the machine on the new motorship Città di Nuoro. In 1969 he assumed the role of responsible official of the Study Office of the Technical Sector and in 1978 that of deputy head of the New Constructions Division. With these tasks, he participated, with directorial functions for the amateur part, in the design, construction, and testing of the new ships of the Tirrenia fleet, from the post-war reconstruction to its expansion with the large ferries and their transformations. During the years of work, he wrote for specialized maritime magazines and collaborated for the company publications 'All of us from Tirrenia' and 'Cronache Finmare'. He has written historical-technical articles for the Rivista Marittima of the Italian Navy and still writes for the magazine Tecnologie Trasporti Mare (TTM) of Genoa in the pages reserved for the Maritime Mutual Assistance Association among Captains, Casina dei Capitani di Meta. To his professional activity, he adds the commitment to historical research and, as an autodidact, to the pictorial re-proposal of images of ancient and modern ships, churches, and processions of Holy Week in the Sorrento peninsula. He has exhibited his works with personal cultural exhibitions on both maritime and religious subjects. Many of his paintings have been chosen for illustrations in several books. After concluding his work activity at Tirrenia, he dedicates his volunteer commitment to the Mutual Assistance Association among Captains of Meta and, in the religious field, to the reorganization and maintenance of the historical archives of the ancient Parish Church of Sant'Agnello and of the seventeenth-century Archconfraternity of the Gonfalone dei Santi Prisco e Agnello. As a confrere of the Archconfraternity, he has been a Councilor of administration and Prior. He has published the following books: - The Confraternity of the Pio Monte dei Santi Prisco e Agnello in Sant'Agnello, Castellammare di Stabia 1994. - An ancient church restored. The Parish Church of Saints Prisco and Agnello, Sant'Agnello 2005. - The Maritime Mutual Assistance Association among Captains of Meta in a story by Michele Paturzo, a Navy officer and writer, Monghidoro 2009. - The Aponte, an ancient maritime family from Sorrento, Monghidoro 2011. - The Borgo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo in the history of Sorrento's maritime, Monghidoro 2012. - Piazza Sant'Agnello - History and redevelopment, Castellammare di Stabia, 2015. - The ships of Tirrenia. A century of history and beyond. Monghidoro. 2018.