Experience Sicily

Tag: arte

  • 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…

  • Come Let Us Adore Him

    “The Adoration,” a painting in Agrigento’s Church of the Holy Spirit at Il Monastero di Santo Spirito.

  • Holy Family

    Sicilians and Italians spend today, Saint Stephen’s Day, visiting presepi, or nativity scenes–traditional, ancient, and modern as well as tiny, life-size, and live (i.e. presented by actors accompanied by live animals)! This inlaid marble alter image depicting the Holy Family is from Palermo’s Monumentale Chiesa dell’immacolata Concezione, a masterpiece of baroque architecture built in 1612.

  • Giacomo’s Stucco

    The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi in Palermo houses sculptor Giacomo Serpotta’s (1656-1732) stucco statues, each depicting one of ten of the 16 Franciscan Virtues–Humility, Compassion, Prayer, Faithfulness, Peacemaking, Modesty, Theology, Charity, Truth, Hospitality. Using a technique called allustsratura, Serpotta sculpted the statues in 1723. Can you guess which Virtue this statue represents?

  • Madonna and Child

    Madonna and Child set in the midst of the Baroque church San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo.

  • Feast for the Eyes

    Ceramic plate, Caltagirone.

  • Remember the Dead

    Today is All Saints Day, a day recognizing martyrs. Tomorrow, November 2, is All Souls Day, the day to remember the dead.

  • Arts Streets

    This weekend in Monreale, the city celebrates “Le vie dell’Arte,” a festival that features the fine art treasures from the city’s museum. Instead of the works being inside however, this Saturday and Sunday, those works have been brought outside on to the streets and into the piazzas for all to enjoy on Piazzetta Arancio, or…