SHARE
COPY LINK

ART

IN PICTURES: Up one’s street: Five Italian towns with painted murals

From walls depicting shepherd revolts in Sardinia, epics of Saint Francis in Umbria, painted archways in Emilia Romagna or racing cyclists in Lombardy, there's plenty of art in some of Italy's lesser-known streets.

IN PICTURES: Up one's street: Five Italian towns with painted murals
A mural depicting Italian unification in Mugnano, Umbria. Photo: Alex Macbeth.

It's the land of Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo. Yet beyond the walls of Italy's majestic galleries in cities like Rome, Florence and Venice lie art labyrinths that blend into the exterior facades of several historic towns. 

Once upon a time, art was confined to canvasses, church frescos and the palaces of the rich and powerful. But since the 1950s, several Italian towns have embraced art on their streets, making a name for themselves as open air galleries hosting dozens of painted murals. 

Here are five Italian towns where art blossoms besides architecture and tradition.

1) Orgosolo (Sardinia) 

Nestled high into the sinuous mountains near the east coast of Sardinia, Orgosolo is the most edgy of Italy's painted towns. 

In the late 1960s, an Italian anarchist movement gave birth to street art activity in the town, painting stories of the local farmers' battles against a brutal feudal system on the walls of the historic centre. Today, the city is a gallery of liberation murals, protest pieces, peace motifs and a visual history of Sardinian struggles against foreign occupation.

A shepherd is depicted raising his fist and weapon in protest on a mural in Orgosolo. Photo: Alex Macbeth. 

In the village once home to famous bandits, the local shopkeepers welcome tourists into their stores singing Sardinian folk tales. Some 15 miles south of the town of Nuoro, the landscape of Orgosolo was made famous by Nobel laureate Deledda's novel Doves and Hawks.

Political murals on the walls of Orgosolo. Photo: Alex Macbeth.

Orgosolo. Photo: Alex Macbeth.

READ ALSO: Sandal in the Mediterranean: Why you should visit Sardinia

 

2) Dozza (Emilia Romagna)

Since the 1960s, Dozza hosts the Painted Walls Biennale (the next one is in 2019) and the village near Bologna is a celebration of the hundreds of artists who over time have made its walls famous.

The village of less than 6,000 inhabitants hosts some of the best street art in Italy and has become a haven for art lovers who flock to see archways, windows, facades and doors coated in surrealism, magic realism and local folktales.

The village of Dozza. File photo: maxdonati79/Depositphotos3) 

Another mural in Dozza. File photo: maxdonati79/Depositphotos3) 

 

 

3) Mugnano (Umbria)

This tiny village on the edges of Italy's third largest lake, Lake Trasimeno, began to embrace art on its streets' walls when local painter Benito Biselli invited artist friends to paint Mugnano's first eight public murals in 1983.

A mural depicting St Francis of Assisi in Mugnano, Umbria. Photo: Alex Macbeth. 

Since then dozens of other artists have continued the tradition. Mugnano's walls bear testimony to local history but also a global outlook. One mural depicts the local Christian saint St Francis of Assisi; another pays homage to a grain protest by farmers against Mussolini's grain quotas. Yet another celebrates Italy's unification in 1861. 

A mural depicting Italian unification. Photo: Alex Macbeth. 

Other murals in Mugnano depict religious figures, lake views and family life, as well as ideological themes.

'Memories of the Past.' Mugnano. Photo: Alex Macbeth. 

Artists from all over the world, including Japan, Sweden and Argentina, have made the town's historical centre an off the beaten track art gem in the last 35 years. 

READ ALSO: Brittany's capital revives forgotten heritage: Italian mosaics

4) Arcumeggia (Lombardy)

In the 1950s, the local community and tourism board in this mountain village below the south shore of Lake Maggiore in Lombardy decided to invite artists to paint its streets. They couldn't have expected that six decades later tourists would still flock to its walls to witness the outcome.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

#lagomaggiore #estate2018 #arcumeggia #pittori #affreschi passeggiando per i vicoli del paese dei pittori ?

A post shared by Laura Cara (@laura68cara) on Aug 28, 2018 at 8:03am PDT

The art in Arcumeggia's streets, a hub for curious art aficionados, celebrates local, national and international traditions, from religious motifs to murals that engage with Italy's history of migration. Even the EU gets a mention. 

5) Braccano

The inhabitants just about outnumber the murals in this tiny village near Monte San Vicino in the region of Le Marche. In 2001, students from a local art school began painting murals in the town. Since then approximately 60 murals have found a home on the quaint village's walls, with international artists constantly adding to the outdoor catalogue. 

Many of the murals depict nature and rural life blending seamlessly into the local architecture. 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 

thehub_marche Presenta Fotografia di @andrea.verduc Località: #braccano • Congratulazioni! • Foto selezionata da @nikycarnevali Vi ricordiamo che per essere premiati è necessario usare #THEHUB_MARCHE e seguire la pagina @THEHUB_MARCHE • Admin @nikycarnevali • Co-Admin u @abe_ghiro88 • Per favore niente foto rubate o prese da internet! @thehub_crew #thdmps #loves_italia #loves__europe #loves_mediterraneo #loves_madeinitaly #ig_italia #ig_italy #scatto_italiano #ig_marche #ig_italy #igerspu #gf_italy #ig_pesaro_urbino #ig_pu #igersmarche #artenellemarche che #igfriends_marche_abruzzo #ig_marche_abruzzo #sassoferratoturismo #ig_ancona #vivomarche #thehub_italia #scatto_italiano #igw_italy • Seguiteci anche su https://www.facebook.com/Theinstagramhub/

A post shared by THEHUB_MARCHE (@thehub_marche) on May 2, 2018 at 1:26pm PDT

Wolves, trees and the moon adorn the exterior walls of houses in Braccano. Other facades in the village display local wines, music and mosaics. 

READ MORE: Rome mural shows Italy's political rivals kissing

ART

Paul Gauguin’s ‘Mata Mua’ returns to Spain

One of French painter Paul Gauguin's most famous paintings, "Mata Mua", will return to a Madrid museum on Monday following an agreement between the Spanish government and its owner, who took it out of the country.

mata mua madrid
Toward the end of his life, Gauguin spent ten years in French Polynesia, where he completed some of his most famous artwork Painting: Paul Gaugin

The artwork had been on display for two decades at Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza museum but in 2020 when the institution closed because of the pandemic, the painting’s owner Carmen Thyssen moved it to Andorra where she currently lives.

Her decision to take “Mata Mua” to the microstate sandwiched between Spain and France raised fears she would remove other works from her collection which are on display at the museum.

“It is expected that the painting will arrive today,” a spokeswoman for the museum told AFP.

mata-mua_gauguin-madrid

In 1989, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza bought Mata Mua at the Sotheby’s auction in New York. Painting: Paul Gauguin

The artwork will go back on display to the public “a few days after” Thyssen signs a new agreement with the Spanish state for the lease of her collection, she added. The deal is expected to be signed on Wednesday.

Painted in 1892 in vivid, flat colours, “Mata Mua” depicts two women, one playing the flute and the other listening, set against a lush Tahitian landscape.

It is one of the stars of Thyssen’s collection of several hundred paintings which are on show at the museum, including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Claude Monet.

Her collection had initially been displayed at the Madrid museum as part of a free loan agreement signed in February 2002 that was subsequently extended.

But in August 2021 Spain’s culture ministry announced it had reached an agreement with Thyssen to rent the collection from her for 15 years for €97.5 million ($111.5 million), with “preferential acquisition rights on all or part” of the works. The collection includes a Degas, a Hopper and a Monet.

Aside from housing her collection of works, the museum displays the collection of her late husband, Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Swiss heir to a powerful industrial lineage who died in Spain in 2002.

The Spanish state bought his collection in 1993 from $350 million, according to the museum.

SHOW COMMENTS