Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Bardi, Italy

In terms of Lithuanian heritage, a small Italian town Bardi (population 2300) ranks second only to Rome.

It is even more interesting knowing that Bardi never had a Lithuanian community. The Bardi Lithuanian sites have their roots in just two people, one of them a Lithuanian who never lived in Bardi and another one a non-Lithuanian who was born in Bardi but didn’t live there either.

The Lithuanian was Vincas Mincevičius, a Lithuanian priest who had to remain in Italy after Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union; he was instrumental in establishing Italy’s Lithuanian community and many Lithuanian sites. The non-Lithuanian was Cardinal Antonius Samore, a Bardi native after whom a local street is named; before World War 2, he used to work in the Vatican’s nunciature (embassy) to Lithuania, becoming fond of the country; after World War 2, he employed Mincevičius, and the duo went on to transform Samore’s native Bardi with Lithuanian artworks.

Sala Lituania of Bardi

Their magnum opus is Sala Lituania which has few pars anywhere in Europe. It is an entire hall dedicated to Lithuanian murals and artworks, located in a local parish building (Youth House) that dates to 1963. In reality, the Lithuanian artworks go far beyond that hall itself, adorning the corridors and stairwell, everything there reminding of Lithuania, whether created by famous Lithuanian diaspora artists or Italian artists who were also commissioned for this.

Sala Lituania in Bardi

Within the Hall (Sala) itself, there is a huge mural with a map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and various visions and symbols of its medieval glory (Grand Duchy of Lithuania). Next to it, another mural depicts Lithuanians around a cross. There are multiple Lithuanian flags, as well as Italian and Vatican flags in the hall. The furniture evokes of traditional Lithuanian woodwork.

Sala Lituania mural in Bardi

Over the entrance of the hall there is an image of an angel holding a Lithuanian coat of arms with altered first words of the Lithuanian anthem “Lietuva, Tėvynė mūsų” inscribed (“Lithuania, our homeland”). The handles of the hall’s door depict the Vilnius coat of arms and the European Basketball Championship that took place in Kaunas in 1939 (the second final year of free Lithuania).

Sign at the entrance to Sala Lituania

At the side of the hall, there is a Lithuanian chapel of Our Lady of Vilnius, donated by Monsignor Juozas Tadarauskas. This chapel includes an image of Our Lady of Vilnius, a bas-relief of Rūpintojėlis (donated by Bad Worishofen St. Ulrich parish that was led by Lithuanian priests), and a stained-glass window that depicts major sites of Vilnius and St. Casimir (author Dilvo Lotti, donated by family of White-Vaitkevičius). This shows that Sala Lituania was made possible by many Lithuanians from all over the world.

Chapel near Sala Lituania

The stairwell of the building includes a large mural of the baptism of king Mindaugas. It is said that the bishop who baptizes Mindaugas looks like Samore while the priest who stands behind him is Mincevičius.

Baptism of Mindaugas mural

At the entrance of the building a commemorative plaque for Vincas Mincevičius in 2022, listing him as an honorary citizen of Bardi and a patriot of free Lithuania, as well as a plaque for Samore.

Door handles of Sala Lituania showing the 1939 European basketball championship in Kaunas

Lithuanian street and monuments in Bardi

In addition to Sala Lituania, Mincevičius-Samore tandem created more Lithuanian sites. One of the streets of Bardi has been renamed Via Lituania.

Lituania street in Bardi

Furthermore, on the eastern entrance to the town, a Lithuanian chapel-post was ordered by Mincevičius in 1962, dedicated to Samore and celebrating the 30th anniversary of the beginning of his tenure in Lithuania (the chapel-post was created by an Italian artist Adolfo Valazza). This chapel-post has since crumbled but it was replaced in 2002 by a monument to itself – a small wooden Lithuanian chapel-post model is now housed within a stone chapel. A plaque inside says that it is a Lithuanian cross, a copy of the original by Giovanni Assirati.

A miniature copy of the original chapel-post inside a monument to that chapel-post

Meanwhile, honoring the Lithuanian cultural traditions of Bardi, the modern-day Lithuanian immigrants to Italy have built a new Lithuanian chapel-post close to the building where Sala Lituania is located in. This chapel-post, created by V. Ulevičius in 2007, is dedicated to both Mincevičius and Samore, and includes Lithuanian symbols on its sides: the columns of Gediminas, the cross of Vytis, and a stylized Lithuanian coat of arms that is popular within the Lithuanian diaspora. It is crowned by a Lithuanian sun-cross. The plaque reads “ILB dovanoja šį koplytstulpį Bardžio miesteliui, kaip tikėjimo ir broliškos vienybės simbolį” (“Lithuanian-Italian Community gifts this chapel-post to the town of Bardi as a symbol of faith and fraternal unity”).

The modern chapel-post of Bardi

While no Lithuanians live in Bardi today, the Lithuanian sites created here attract many visitors, and Lithuanians who live in other Italian cities even had their own events within the Sala Lithuania.