AN artist has spoken of her pride at being asked to create a stained glass window to celebrate an Italian village’s millennium - following chance conversation while on holiday in the country.

Maralyn O’Keefe of the Glass Gallery in Consett, County Durham, won the commission to make the window for the Church of San Rocco in Picinisco, in the Lazio Region.

After more than three weeks of painstakingly cutting about 900 individual pieces of glass with the help of assistant Bridget Hughes, Mrs O’Keefe has carried out the delicate task of packing the artwork. It will be transported to Picinisco by her husband Ron, where she will later assemble the finished product.

Mrs O’ Keefe said: “I feel really honoured to have been asked to create this stained glass window.

“I was on holiday and was sitting in the piazza of Picinisco having coffee with my husband, when a local businessman we know approached us and said the town was marking its millennium next year and were looking to do something special to commemorate it.

“He said 'I hear you are a stained glass artist. They are looking for something to make a piece'.

“I thought that’s smashing, because I do a lot of memorial pieces. The most appropriate place for it was the Church of San Rocco.”

Mrs O’Keefe returned home and did some three basic drawings, which she sent for consideration.

Picinisco was occupied by the Germans on the infamous Gustav Line during the Second World War and was heavily damaged in the fighting.

In one design, Mrs O’ Keefe decided to depict it from image from a 17th century engraving of the village and included Albert Durer’s Praying Hands.

She said: “I sent off basic drawings of three designs and waited some weeks for response - because it had to go to the priest and charitable committee for them to agree to it.

“And lo and behold I got a phone call saying they liked the medieval depiction.”

She added: “I am an English person and being asked to do a stained glass for an Italian church is special.

“What makes it even more special is that it is the place we go on holiday each year.

“The church is lit up from inside, so I will be so proud to be able to sit in the piazza in the evening and see my window.”

The window will be officially unveiled on March 6 next year – which by pure coincidence is the O’Keefe’s 46th wedding anniversary.