In Italian-speaking Switzerland, Holy Week coincides with the renewal of a now 400-year-old tradition. Between Thursday and Friday, weather permitting, the streets of Mendrisio's historic core will be enlivened by hundreds of figures, protagonists of the Historical Processions, from 2019 inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Thursday Procession is dedicated to the representation of the Passion and Stations of the Cross, while the Friday Procession takes on a more austere and solemn tone. What makes this tradition - which combines popular religiosity, mysticism, theatricality and art - even more evocative and unique is the atmosphere created by the "trasparenti": translucent canvas paintings mounted on internally lit boxes of different shapes and sizes; the only sources of light that illuminated the narrow streets of the village. The earliest historical records of the use of these ephemeral apparatuses date back to the 17th century, but it was at the end of the 18th century that large light arches began to be hung among the houses of Mendrisio.

Trasparenti are unique works of art: paintings on canvas made resistant to water and heat through the use of waxes and oil-resin substances. A particular method of making to which no similar trace can be found elsewhere. This uniqueness handed down orally over the centuries, as a counterbalance, makes approaching canvas restoration more complex.

Today, the conservation of the trasparenti is entrusted to Jacopo Gilardi, the fourth generation of a family that has kept the flame burning for one of the many elements that have contributed to making Mendrisio's historic Processions a World Heritage Site. His atelier welcomed students of Conservation and Restoration from SUPSI's Department of Environment Constructions and Design, who could approach the repair and restoration of the trasparenti.