The Painter Who Lived Alone in the Po Woods

Antonio Ligabue was born in Zurich on 18 December 1899 to Elisabetta Costa, an Italian migrant from the Belluno area; his father is not known. In 1900 he was placed with a Swiss couple, the Göbel-Hanselmanns, with whom he lived until 1919. He spoke only German and went to school near St. Gallen until the third grade. His mother married Bonfiglio Laccabue of Gualtieri in 1901, and the surname that Ligabue later adopted came from that name.

On 15 May 1919 Switzerland expelled him. He was taken to Como and then sent, escorted by carabinieri, to Gualtieri, in northern Italy, the home town of his stepfather, a place he did not know. He did not speak Italian and found it very hard to fit in. He lived alone in the countryside and got by on public assistance, occasional jobs, charity and some money from his adoptive mother. He tried to go back to Switzerland but was stopped at Lodi.

For long periods he lived in the woods along the River Po, where animals were his main company. It was there that he began to paint and to model small clay sculptures, which he would hand over in exchange for food or small favours. Most local people saw him as an eccentric outsider.

In the winter of 1928 and 1929 he met the critic and painter Renato Marino Mazzacurati, who had just moved to Gualtieri. Mazzacurati recognised his talent and later championed his work. During the Second World War Ligabue used his German to work as an interpreter.

From 1948 he showed his paintings in local exhibitions and won a few prizes, and with Mazzacurati's help his work reached larger venues. By the 1950s he was financially secure. His first exhibition in Rome opened at the Galleria La Barcaccia in February 1961. He kept painting until the end of his life and died in Gualtieri on 27 May 1965.