Seeing this sculpture in person earlier this month was very moving. At the site of Gibellina Vecchia, a town in southwestern Sicily that was flattened by the January/February 1968 earthquakes, a stunning exhibition of 8,000 square meters of concrete has transformed the ruins of what were once homes, businesses, and public spaces. Grande Cretto or…
Tag: belice valley
A Frontier of Art
In spite of the plague of bureaucracy that was perhaps more devastating than the 1968 earthquake itself, fifty years later, the Valle del Belice has emerged as a frontier of contemporary art and architecture in Sicily. The Star of Gibellina, created by artist Pietro Consagra, represents an entryway to the area, and is meant to…
Fifty Years Ago the Earth Shook
Fifty years ago during the night of January 14 to 15, 1968 through subsequent days leading to early February 1968, a series of earthquakes rocked southwestern Sicily. The Valle del Belice and the people who called it home have not been the same since. Because it was before the Richter Scale measured tremors in Italy,…
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…