Italy, a country dedicated to beauty, proves it is a place where pictorial creativity flourishes. Just a few years ago street art was considered a minor and often snubbed art form. Today, it embodies an innovative and disruptive way of communication. Let yourself be led around the peninsula in search of surprising open-air masterpieces of contemporary art:
“Human beings, Human God” by Jorit
In Ponticelli, a humble area of Naples, a giant mural painting by 30–year-old Italian-Dutch street artist Jorit depicts the iconic and beloved football player Diego Armando Maradona. The greatest player of his time, Maradona played on the SSC Napoli professional football team for seven years in the 1980s and led the team to its most successful era. Jorit specializes in urban art, gifting the cities of the world with masterpieces painted on the walls of public buildings. He has been described, by the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva, as a modern Caravaggio. Certainly, the powerful impact of his art and the intense personalities he portrays procure awe and admiration at first sight.
“Tuttomondo” by Keith Haring
“Tuttomondo” is Haring’s last large-scale mural, painted on the wall of the Church of San Antonio and commissioned by the city of Pisa. Haring, who at the age of 20 fled Pittsburgh for New York where he worked with Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Timothy Leary, William Burroughs and Jean-Michel Basquiat, died a few months later from AIDS at age of 32. The mural symbolizes harmony in the world, the artist’s personal ode to happiness. “Tuttomondo,” meaning “All the world,” is nearly 1,940 square feet wide and back in 1989 was the biggest mural in Europe. Thirty dynamic figures, stuck together, symbolize the peace and the harmony of the world. At the center is the Pisan cross, symbol of the city, represented by four figures. At the street level a yellow figure is walking, representing perhaps the public, maybe a tourist on his way to the Leaning Tower, or the artist leaving the scene of the finished mural.
“Elena Sofia Ricci” by David Diavù
David Vecchiato, pen name Daviù, painted an enchanting open-air staircase in Trastevere, Rome. The well-known face of the beautiful actress Elena Sofia Ricci shines as one of the stars of In the Name of the Sovereign People, a 1990 film directed by Luigi Magni. Interesting trivia: The very steep staircase is a popular training place for CrossFit Rome fitness lovers.
“Origins” by Camilla Falsini
A great artist whose works can be admired in Milan is Camilla Falsini. In 2019, on the occasion of Milan Green Week, she created a beautiful mural in the heart of Brera at 55 Corso Garibaldi. “Origins” is composed of a series of bright geometric figures that lead up to a mythical creature at the top of the building. A curiosity: the mural is made of smog-eating, air-purifying Airlite paint.
“Beyond the Sea,” by Millo
Monopoli is one of the most enchanting towns in Puglia. A large mural painted in 2020 on the external wall of a private building set between the old town, the bay, and the open sea, “Beyond the Sea” is a statement about the tropicalization of the Mediterranean Sea due to climate change. Created as part of the new edition of PhEST—International Festival of Photography and Art—this is Millo’s latest work.
“Falcone and Borsellino,” by Rosk and Loste
In 1992, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were two judges killed two months apart by the Mafia in Palermo. They are Italian symbols of a city that will not surrender to the criminal Mafia’s dynamics. The artists Rosk and Loste wanted to celebrate and pay homage to the anti-Mafia icons with this huge mural on the façade of the “Gioeni Trabia Nautical Institute''. Two smiling faces, bearers of hope for a better future for the youngest generations.
“Madonna di Tor di Marancia” by Mr. Klevra
In 2015, in Tor Marancia, a suburb of Rome, the Big City Life project was launched and curated by Rome’s Gallery 999 Contemporary. Eighteen street artists from eight different countries were recruited to paint the facades of the Institute of Social Housing (ATER) buildings. The work transformed the degraded lot into an open-air museum involving the residents.
Barbara Benzoni
Barbara Benzoni was born in Milan and lives between Rome and Tuscany. She is devoted to USA, the land of courage and innovation. She’s Peter's super-lucky mum and Ale's wife. Cinema, art, good food and only beautiful things are the themes of her existence. With a degree in Italian literature and a Masters in Sports Management she can both enjoys books and basketball matches. In 25 years she has been organizing sport events all over the world and she’s been lucky enough to meet the greatest champs ever. Curiosity in everyday life and people are her drivers. Her personal icon is Mohammed Ali : "It's not bragging if you can back it up".