We don’t know precisely why this artist created “only” Nativities and scenes from the Divine Comedy. What we do know, is that the first miniature of his life originated from a deep sorrow, the loss of his mother in 1942. As a way to react to this unbearable pain, he took a small box of medicine of hers, and carved a very tiny Nativity inside of it. The scene is full of sweetness and tenderness. It represents a Child protected not only by the Mother and Joseph but also by the three Wise Men, who are close to one other and act as a shield at the entrance of the cave. From this moment on, for more than fifty years, this spiritual practice became part of Don Antonio’s life. He used to make one Nativity per year. His last work is a Presepio in a cherry pit, the smallest that you can find at Museodivino after the one in a seed of hemp.

On the other side, the series of works inspired by the Divine Comedy is  still to explore. We don’t know why and when he began to create them. According to family stories, they were born from his memory of the Classical studies at the Barnabite Fathers. The works inspired by the Divine Comedy are obvious proof of the artist’s deep love for culture, evidenced by his personal library which was donated by the heirs to the Diocesan Curia of Castellammare di Stabia. Museodivino is also a Research Center on the main subjects of the Same Collection: the meaning of the Neapolitan Nativity, the modern iconography of Divine Comedy and the history of the Same Collection itself.