During World War II, the British established Camp 60 for Italian prisoners of war on the Orkney Islands. The Italian POWs, who had been captured in North Africa, were put to work building the Churchill Barrier to help defend the area from German warships. One of the artistic prisoners, Domenico Chiocchetti, made a statue of St. George using a framework of barbed wire covered with cement.
In 1943, the prisoners were given two Nissen huts which were placed end-to-end. Working with the simplest of materials, most of it second-hand, Chiocchetti and a small band of helpers created the small chapel that is today known as the Italian Chapel. The interior walls of the Nissen huts were covered with plasterboard which the prisoners painted to resemble brickwork and carved stone. Caroline Wickham-Jones, in her book Monuments of Orkney: A Visitor’s Guide, describes it this way:
“The interior is painted with remarkable realism to resemble carved stonework, with a dado and ornate columns.”
We visited the Italian Chapel as a part of a CIE Coach Tour. Photographs of the chapel are shown below.