Experience Sicily

Tag: art

  • They Came Bearing Gifts

    Epiphany: A painting of the adoration of Christ in the Oratorio di Santa Cita in Palermo.

  • A Bit Graphic

    Ceramic Designs from Santo Stefano di Camastra.

  • Sicily’s Sistine Chapel

    The Chiesa di San Domenico in Castelvetrano in Trapani Province is a masterpiece. Originally built in the 1470s when commissioned by the Tagliavia family, the church gained spectacle status once artist Antonio Ferraro da Giuliana and his sons spent three years from 1577-1580 creating the stucco scene above the altar titled “Albero di Jesse,” or…

  • A Glimpse of Oratorio Santa Cita

    The Oratorio di SS. Rosario in Santa Cita was built in the 1600s. Oratories were meeting halls of confraternities or religious societies. In Palermo, there are a number of oratories that were built in the Baroque era. The Oratorio di SS. Rosario in Santa Cita was decorated with the magnificent stucco-work of Giacomo Serpotta (1656-1732).…

  • High Ho Folk Art!

    The bridle gear and breastplates created for the horses that pull the Sicilian carts are elaborate extensions of the carts’ decorations. This detail gives you an idea of this other form of folk art.

  • Mirella Pipia Does it Again

    Ceramic vase by Bagheria’s Mirella Pipia.

  • Peace Dove

    April 25 is Liberation Day in Italy. Liberation Day celebrates the 1945 fall of Mussolini’s fascist Italian Social Republic and the end of the Nazi occupation of Italy in World War II. This oil on canvas painting is by Sicilian, 20th century artist Renato Guttuso (1912-1987). “Medlar Leaves and Dove, ” or “Foglie di nespolo…

  • Bella Tarantella

    Today, the tarantella (shown in this painting) is still alive and danced and played socially in many parts of southern Italy. In modern-day Sicily, however, it’s danced most often by organized folk music and dance ensembles at feasts and festivals. There remains a very strong folk music culture throughout the island, where you’ll find musicians…

  • Coral Salt Earrings

    Jewelry-designer Daniela Neri created these unique earrings that recall Sicilian ceramics with tarantella dancers. Daniela is a native of Trapani, and she takes the salt from the local salt flats and makes “coral” out of it–in other words, the beads that you see are not made of semi-precious stones, shells, coral, or glass, but of…