Giovanni Vanoni was a well known Swiss painter who painted many small roadside chapels and frescos in the Swiss canton of Ticino during the period from 1830 to 1880. One of his original paintings (a painting of Margherita Giovanetti) still hangs in the old Vanoni home in Aurigeno. There are also examples of his paintings in several roadside chapels on the main road from Locarno to Aurigeno. There are at least 30 examples of his work in Aurigeno and 11 examples in Gordevio. In approximately 1965, a book of his paintings was published in Switzerland. Another book of his paintings was p[ublished in 1986 by the Valley Maggia Museum (Museo di Vallmaggia) located in Cevio.

In 1998, several of his roadside chapel paintings could still be seen on the road from Gordevio to Aurigeno.

The following additional information was taken from the Ticino Tourism web page.
At a very young age, he had a passion for pictorial art and, at around 10, he went to Milan, attracted by a decorative painter who happened to be in Aurigeno to paint the chapel. During his stay in the Capitol of Lombardy, which lasted several years, he learned the elements of the trade, though confronting hardships; yet he also had the opportunity to go to Savoia and Genova. As soon as he had saved enough money, he went to Rome in 1834, where he studied the works of the masters and stayed until 1837. In 1837, he married his cousin, Caterina Vanoni, who gave him 10 children. Following burdensome family tasks, he left to promote his art abroad. In any case, there are reports of a stay in Paris in 1860 to start his son off in the artistically fertile environment. He was active in the public life of his home town, so much so that he was nominated mayor. In addition to the numerous decorated chapels around val Maggia and val Verzasca, the frescos in the Aurigeno parish and Muralto colligate, Vanoni also did oil paintings of people from the era and many ex-votos conserved in the S. Maria delle Grazie church in Maggia as well as in the Madonna del Sasso sanctuary in Orselina. He died in 1886 and his grave is found in the Aurigeno cemetery, next to the chapel he painted.

Caterina married her first cousin once removed, since her grandfather and her husband’s father were brothers. They had 10 children.