Bagni di Lucca and Beyond

We discovered a tiny piece of Italy in Orkney. There is a delightful Italian Chapel with an interesting history.

In October 1939 a German submarine under the command of Gunther Prien entered Scapa Flow ( a body of water in the Orkney Islands) and sank the British battleship HMS Royal Oak with the loss of 834 lives. Winston Churchill visited Orkney and the decision was taken to construct barriers to close off four of the entrances to Scapa Flow to make the base for the home fleet more secure.

A shortage of manpower to construct the barriers coincided with the capture of thousands of Italian soldiers fighting in North Africa, so a decision was taken to transport 550 men to Camp 60 on Lamb Holm (the island where  the chapel is) and a similar number to Camp 34 in Burray.

Following a request from the camp priest, it was agreed that 2 Nissen huts would be joined together to provide a chapel. Among the Italians in Camp 60 was an artist, Domenico Chiocchetti, and he was given the task of transforming the huts into a chapel. He was assisted by other tradesmen, in particular Giuseppe Palumbi, a blacksmith and Domenico Buttapasta, a cement worker.

Domenico Chiocchetti carried in his pocket a small prayer card given to him by his mother before he left home. It was the image on that card of the Madonna and Child by Nicolo Barabino that Chiocchetti based his painting above the altar in the chapel. When the camp commander realised that the prisoner was a talented artist he was allowed to continue painting to make the building more attractive,

The chapel is one of Orkney’s most loved attractions.

We were there quite late in the afternoon and it was not open, but we enjoyed wandering around the lovely building and imagined the pleasure it must have given to the imprisoned men.

We had an audience of the ever present cows.

Thank you to Orkney.com and some signs near the chapel for the information. It is excellent that the chapel is kept in such good condition and welcomes visitors.