Antonio Ligabue

In 1942 the painter changed his surname from Laccabue to Ligabue, presumably because of the hate towards his father, whom he considered guilty of the uxoricide of his mother.

From Chiasso he was moved to Gualtieri, in the province of Reggio Emilia, the hamlet of origin of the adoptive father but, not knowing a word of Italian, he tried to return to Switzerland.

In 1941 Andrea Mozzali helped him to get out of the psychiatric hospital and welcomed him to his home in Guastalla, near Reggio Emilia.

In 1957 Severo Boschi, a journalist at the Il Resto del Carlino newspaper, and photographer Aldo Ferrari went to Gualtieri to meet him.

By now ill, asked to be received in the Catholic Church and, shortly after being baptized and confirmed, Ligabue died in Gualtieri on 27 May 1965.