the cuppycake and "la porta della belleza"

hello cuppycakes! "'the time has come' the walrus said, 'to talk of other things...'" (sorry, i watched the old alice in wonderland the other night). it has been three days and i am finally getting around to posting about my adventures here in italy. my first experience leaving the apartment involved a one hour drive into catania, where the airport i arrived at is located. it was a great drive with beautiful views of mt. etna (the largest volcano in europe!) and taormina. on the way renato tried to explain to me exactly what it was we were going to see. so, i will try and relay to you what was happening as best as i can through my interpretation of what he was trying to tell me and what i percieved while we were there.

the project is titled "la porta della belleza" and it was put together by antonio presti- a very famous artist. the basic principle of it is to beautify a very bad area. it covers one side of an overpass, underneath which is the road into the worst part of catania. in this part there is a very strong mafia presence, a lot of drugs, crime, etc. it's one of those things where everyone knows about it, but there isn't much that can really be done to change it. so, in an effort to make a change here, the artist funded this project and worked in conjunction with the school that is just on the other side of the overpass. all of the children made ceramic tiles that were used in the project. they were told to make their tiles represent the beauty and character that they would like to city in their city, and also to include their name, so they would feel an ownership of the wall. the children also drew pictures representing the same themes that were turned into flags that now line the busy highway that leads to the airport.
the tiles used, along with the images and writing included on the wall represent, to all who enter, the standard expected of them. right on the other side of the overpass is known to everyone as the area where you go to find drugs, etc, and when police come everyone scatters. (the event was closed to the public and we had to go past some police to get in, so we were not in any danger there). now, the project helps to set a standard of legality, it is like a constitution or declaration. it really was a beautiful thing to see how much this man cares about his home city. renato told me that he was one of the wealthiest men in sicily, and now he uses his money to make projects like this, to give back to the people. and the people respect him, as well as the art. here in italy there is graffiti EVERYWHERE. it doesn't get painted over and cleaned up like back home. it is just left there. but no one touches this wall. you can see that graffiti is all on the other side of the overpass, and inside it as well, but when you come to the wall of the project there is just the beautiful blue. no tags, political statements, etc. just the beautiful artwork. everyone can feel that the wall belongs to them, because it was created for them, and made by the children. i feel so honored to have been present for this event and to have met antonio presti. (afterward we went to a small lunch in his home which was so interesting- every room created by a different artist!)
here is the link to all of the pictures i took at the event.

1. me in front of "la porta della belleza"

2. my favorite part of the wall

3. a close up of some of the tiles
4. the artist spoke individually with the classes responsible for the tiles in each part of the wall
5. a close up of one of the flags
6. flags lining the highway and the children
7. afterwards there was a celebration at the school and everyone was dancing
8. at one point in the celebration the artist spoke with the children, who love him very much, so they were all chanting "antonio! antonio! antonio!"