SAINT MICHAEL: THE ARCHANGEL WHO KILLS EVIL. Painting

Bergo Agostino was born in Desio (Mi) on 10th June 1983 at 8.00 p.m. to Bergo Alessio and Parisi Maria.After the caesarean and the baptism officiated by the same gynaecologist M. Meroni, it had been necessary the prompt displacement to the Niguarda Hospital, since the baby suffered from bifid lumbosacral backbone which had never been diagnosed during the antenatal phase. The bifid lumbosacral backbone pathology belongs to the group of malformations which present defects in the closing of the neural tube. It is a congenital malformation of the marrow, of the close tissues and of the bony tissues that usually protect these structures. This causes a tumefaction on the median posterior line, which results to be covered only by a thin membrane instead of a regular cutis. The tumefaction contains an variable quantity of cerebrospinal fluid. In the morning of 10th June Agostino was subjected to a thorny reconstructive operation by the neurosurgeon P. Versari. He will leave the hospital after many hours of physiotheraphy, manipulations and another baptism on 17th July 1983. The complexity of the damages caused by the malformation required many visits at the Niguarda children's surgery ward. Doctor Perlasca was responsible for the urological dysfunctions, while Jenny dealed with the physiotheraphy. In september 1985, after the brother Abramo's birth in May, Agostino restarted to “walk” with callipers extended from the foot to the thigh, thanks to the Reggio Emilia C.O.E. technicians. Agostino's childhood was passing away through operations to lengthen the tendons and to correct the equine-feet position; the operations were performed by Doctor A. Ferrari at the Parma Hospital. The therapeutic turning-point happenned in 1991 when Agostino submitted to the Hilizarov technique with Doctor F. Federzoni. For several mounths Agostino had 18 surgical wires held toghether by a cage, fixed from the feet tip to the knee. Ater the operation, the callipers slowly regressed up to under the knee, and swimming replaced the physiotheraphy. The introduction to social relationships at school made Agostino a reserved, withdrawn and chronically gloomy child. Long-lasting periods of solitude brought him to spend his time carefully observing insignificant details and systematically reproducing them on any sheet. The choice of attending the P. G.