The little village of Serina with a population of nearly 2000 people was the birthplace of the Italian painter Jacopo Nigretti de Lavalle (1480 – 1528) also know as Palma il Vecchio. To date he has been considered the greatest artist from Bergamo of all time and he has modernized the Venetian painting with Giorgione and Tiziano.

The tale uniting Serina and Palma il Vecchio is not just a question of registry but concern a piece of art too: the Polyptych “Presentazione della Vergine” (Presentation of Mary). This artwork dated between 1514 and 1515 had been forgotten for decades inside of the Serina’s church since the Creberg Foundation decided to restore it.

In this manner the restorer Eugenia de Beni and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (“Workshop of semi-precious stones”) worked over a year on the Serina’s Polyptych and on the others two figures: the Saint Philip and the Saint James which composed the lost Polyptych of Redeemer with maybe also one figure of the Carrara Academy.

The Serina’s Polyptych restored to its former glory has been one of the most appreciated artwork at the exhibition “Palma il Vecchio. Lo sguardo della bellezza” (“Palma Vecchio. The look of the beauty”) made for Expo2015 by Bergamo city. This piece of art was for sure the most spectacular for the visitors and for the art critics also because of the new frame made following the 5th Century draws.

After the end of the exhibition the Polyptych has been returned to the municipality of Serina. Therefore is now possible again to look at the masterpiece in its originating location: the church of Santa Maria Annunciata.
Serina now became a must see and a necessary step for all the art lovers. Starting right now all the visitors can see the Palma’s artworks there where his live started. Maybe the visitors could realize now how the Palma’s representation of Saint Joseph, the humblest biblical character, look more like the Serina’s farmer than the venetian gentlemen. The same farmers that the painter met in his childhood that were proud of the honesty of their simple and exhausting everyday work