La Casa delle Croci (The House of Crosses)Antonio Paggi (1879 – 1944)

Paggi, a bricklayer and stone cutter born in Roverè di Velo (Verona), participated in several military campaigns as part of the Alpini Corps during World War I. He returned home permanently from the frontlines in 1918, after sustaining an injury in 1916 and living for a while in Germany.

In Lessinia he is remembered as “Toni the Fool” or “Toni of the Crosses,” because while living in solitude he decorated both the inside and the outside of his home with crosses that he carved into the rock. Underneath the house he dug out tunnels and cellars and decorated those, too, with crosses carved into stone.

Paggi died in 1944, possibly at the hand of the Fascist forces during a military raid. The current owners have recently completed a restoration of the site.

~Giada Carraro

www.costruttoridibabele.net

Via Monti Lessini
Verona, Veneto, 37132 it
Latitude/Longitude: 45.4365202 / 11.0426102

View Larger Map in New Window