The Murals of Calvi, Art Monastery and the Bonfires of Itri

Relax time for us, crunch time for the Art Monastery organizers: meetings here and there, computers marathon sessions, etc. These guys are serious about their really awesome project, and it was great to get an eye-witness perspective. In the meantime, us ArtVenturers wandered the tiny town of Calvi dell’Umbria, which has an excessive amount of 1980’s murals throughout its winding historic center. Eighties or not, art is indeed sacred:

These curvy alleys took us from one piece of art to the next, and although certainly not Picassos, it was a relaxing and reflective stroll:

Some of the highlights of the 1980s-period pieces by Calvi dell’Umbria masters:

The Art Monastery Project is in the works in this small town with a gorgeous, abbandoned monastery as its centerpiece:

Once Christopher, Betsy, Ben and the rest of the Art Monastery pioneers manage to get past the hurdles of Italian bureaucracy and big-time fund-raising, this will be one of the most interesting projects to spark up in Italy. The idea is to house a community of about 30 artists of all kinds in the old monastery lodgings and create a residency program where artists live and work. Performances, installations and concerts are already in the planning stages and all seem super interesting! Check it out: www.artmonastery.org. I think the plan is to get things running by July, so stay tuned y’all. Here are some other angles of the monastery; imagine 30 artists living in this place what it would look like after a year or so:

Last but certainly not least and actually maybe even the best so far, the festival of St. Joseph in Itri. Itri is a stunning city:

There were 7 bonfires in the 7 different neighborhoods of the city, and I mean BIG bonfires right in the middle of town! All the kids were running around them and people’s houses were just feet away from the flames, and it got me thinking that only in Italy (and maybe Brazil?) are they casual enough to get away with not burning the entire city down. The festivities included different regional cuisine-olives, wine, bruschetta, cheese, sausage, fried pastry desserts- and various musical groups around each bonfire, and we walked from one neighborhood and fire pit to the next.

An artistic moment:

Here I am, the witch between the flames:

This festival has pagan roots, as it falls on the 19th of March, right at the Spring Equinox. Just as with many churches in Italy built on top of pagan temple ruins, the Church, rather than eradicate these edifices and festivities, adopted them as its own until the pagan culture faded. If you think about, Joseph was a carpenter- why is that symbolized by fire? Instead, its the coming of spring that’s celebrated with fire: the burning of dead tree branches to make way for new life and new growth. In fact, Saint Joseph’s day is celebrated with bonfires in several cities in Italy and at least one festival that I know of in Valencia, Spain: Las Fallas. Anyways, those are some smoky tidbits for thought.

~ by Amy and Luca on March 25, 2008.