Thousands of pilgrims, including many Maltese, are flocking daily to the Vatican for the 2025 Jubilee.

On entering St Peter’s Basilica, they cannot but admire the recently restored baldachin that towers over the tomb of St Peter and the high altar. However, few would know that he restoration was entrusted to Sante Guido and Giuseppe Mantella, two Italian conservators who worked in Malta for 25 years.

The baldachin, designed by sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini, dominates the central area, just under the dome, of the enormous basilica. It was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and executed between 1623 and 1624.

The bronze and gilded structure is one of the most important of the baroque era. It features four 20-metre high columns. The columns in themselves are a real masterpiece, featuring symbols of the Barberini family such as bees and laurels. Pope Urban VIII was from the Barberini family.

The baldachin dominates the central area, just under the dome, of St Peter's.

Under the elegantly designed canopy is a big sun, which is also a symbol of the Barberini family, and there are four human-sized angels in the corner. An issue arose as a basilica should have a ‘cathedra’:  Bernini resolved this by designing the Chair of St Peter as a separate structure.

Before this latest intervention, the baldachin had not been restored for over 200 years. The €700,000 project, financed by the US-based Knights of Columbus, was done in record time as it had to be ready before the start of the jubilee. A whole team worked with Guido and Mantella. The restored structure now stands out in all its glory, to be admired by everyone.

Malta projects

Guido had come to Malta in the late 1980s because of our bronze monuments as he was mainly an expert in the restoration of bronze. Mantella was his assistant. They are from Calabria but have been based in Rome for many years. They carried out projects in the Vatican and elsewhere. However, as they got more and more commissions in Malta, they established themselves in Valletta in 1995. 

They collaborated with the Valletta Rehabilitation Project, of which I was the executive coordinator, for around 25 years. It was a time when restoration work had just started in Malta and their presence here enticed many to study the art of conservation. Today, Malta boasts of many conservators in all fields.

The duo’s first two commissions were the restoration of the beautiful Christ the King monument in front of The Phoenicia Malta (which is unfortunately given very little importance) and the Neptune statue in the courtyard of the Grand Master's Palace, in Valletta, a project financed by Farsons as the statue is featured on one of their beers. (As an aside, I was faced with one of my earliest controversial decisions as we removed a British attempt to cover the original naked Neptune’s private parts.)

The canopy of the bronze and gilded structure.

Many other projects followed. Practically all the bronze monuments were eventually restored by the two, including the Great Siege monument, in Valletta, and the Manoel de Vilhena monument, in Valletta and bust in Mdina.

The bronze bust of Pope Innocent XII, which was on the façade of Our Lady of Victory church, in Valletta, was in a terrible state: we decided to give the original to MUŻA and to replace it with a replica there.

Other projects included the relic of St Paul at St Paul’s Shipwreck church, in Valletta and the beautiful precious-stone-ornamented chapel of St Michael in the same church.

They also restored the apostles of the Mdina cathedral.

Over time, Guido and Mantella expanded their know-how and collaborators to include restoration of paintings, such as the Mattia Preti work at the Sarria church, Floriana, and also stone restoration such as the entrance to Vilhena Palace, Mdina.

Commissions at St John’s

Their most important commissions were, however, those at St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta. This is where they truly left their mark on our heritage. 

First, they were responsible for the restoration of various projects in bronze or other metal objects such as the two leggii. Their work on the gilt-bronze Gloria and the large marble statue of the Baptism of Christ brought beauty back to the cathedral. 

The conservation of the bronze image of Jesus Christ by Algardi, which was on the façade of the cathedral, was a milestone in the history of restoration in Malta: we replaced it with a copy but, unfortunately, the original is still in storage, as is also the magnificent Reliquary of St John the Baptist, which Guido and Mantella also restored. 

However, the duo’s most important work was the complete restoration of the Cappella d’Italia, which was financed by Italy, as this set the benchmark for the eventual restoration of all the chapels and re-guilding in the cathedral.

The author (left) with Sante Guido and other team members discussing the re-guilding options for St John's Co-Cathedral.

The project was the result of many months of preparation and research. The decision as to what type of re-guilding had to be done was one of the major issues that was discussed by two scientific committees I organised, one Italian and one international. They were important decisions as, eventually, the restoration of the whole cathedral was based on that decision.

The above-mentioned committees included some of the most important restorers. While the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation had been established in 2001, I continued to be responsible for these projects until 2007. I collaborated with the two curators at the time, Claude Busuttil and Daniela Apap Bologna. The historic research carried out by Keith Sciberras was extremely important.

The cathedral started to be transformed into the incredible beauty it is today. Eventually, Guido and Mantella were also responsible for other restorations, such as the enormous lunette above the entrance.

The fact that these two restorers who worked with us for so long were given the most important commission in the Vatican in years is indeed an honour for us. 

Ray Bondin was executive co-ordinator of the rehabilitation projects for Valletta, Mdina and Cottonera from 1987 to 2007.