Monthly Archives: February 2024

167B street Lecce

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This blog post is a sample of the murals that I found while visiting a section in northeast Lecce around three streets – Via Raguso, Via Novara, and Via Agrigento

below: Dimitris Trimintzios aka Taxis painted this image of a woman harvesting what appear to be olives. Lecce is in the province of Apulia where olive groves dominate parts of the landscape; about 40% of Italy’s olive oil is produced in Apulia.

mural by Taxis of a young woman holding a basket full of ripe olives, olive trees in the background

167B Street is a group that promotes art and community – to improve the look of neighbourhoods and to promote interactions between the residents. It is named after the multi-ethnic residential area in Lecce Italy where many of the murals have been painted, Neighbourhood 167 is a collection of apartment buildings that was built in the late 70’s to meet the demands for social housing at the time. It is also the neighbourhood where these photos were taken

below: Wormbook by Artez,

a young woman with her hair tied up, wearing glasses, with a grey cat, holds a large stack of books, some of which have words on the spines, Hesse, English,

a young woman with her hair tied up, wearing glasses, with a grey cat, holds a large stack of books, some of which have words on the spines, Hesse, English,

below: “Mamma perdono” by Sabotaje al Montaje – here a fisherman catches plastic caps instead of fish, a comment on water pollution.

a fisherman sitting with a large basket of plastic bottle caps at his feet, a fishing rod in one hand, and a seagull sitting nearby watching him

below:  Two large murals on adjacent buildings, both painted by Chekos.

two murals, both on the ends of an apartment building, both painted by Chekos

below: It’s their world – Children who are friends in real life too, Andrea and Fatou.

mural of two young boys hugging, with a large globe of the Earth, one boy is white and the other is black

below: This mural is a tribute to two football players, Michele Lorusso and Ciro Pezzella,
who played in Lecce in the 1970s and 1980s.  Both died in a car accident in December 1983.

mural on the side of an apartment building of two football players in Lecce football club colours and uniforms, memorial wall to two who died in 1983, Michele Lorusso and Ciro Pezzella

below: Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers painted by a pair of Dutch artists,  Karski  (aka Roy Valk) and Beyond (aka Roelof Schierbeek) These birds are known for creating the perfect home and environment and for defending their territory.

below: Wish by Millo (Millo also has a mural in the nearby town of Monopoli that I included in a previous blot post – Monopoli’s Millo).  Here, the couple are tied down and tied to each other by red strings attached to their fingers.  Are they wishing for travel (airplanes)? housing? dreams? each other?

mural painted by millo in lecce, on side of apartment building, two people, man and woman standing apart,

residential blocks of buildings

below: The Italian words, “L’amore non è amato” translate to Love is not Loved, a quote that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi.   The artist, Igor Palminteri, says on his instagram page, “I dedicate this wall to all residents of the 167 neighbourhood in Lecce.
Let’s rise up, overcome all prejudice and open new paths to self-determination.”

mural on yellow background with image of young girl with a grey cone shaped megaphone

bottom of Igor Palminteri mural showing just the girl's feet in blue and white sandals, also the tops of three cars that are parked beside the building

And last, there is a lowrise building in the neighbourhood that has been fully decorated by a team of artists – Chekos (aka Francesco Ferreri), Gabriele Quarta, Ania Kitlas, and Simon De Filippi. The murals were created from ideas provided by a Lecce City project called “Libri per la pelle – interventi artistici di arte urbana” (generally translates to Books for the Skin, interventions in urban art). Ferreri and Kitlas are the artists that founded 167B Street.

mural of a young boy

mural on a wall, collage of images, with lots of dominant diagonal stripes in black and white
portrait of a woman, and other images in mural

Photos taken February 2024

blues over Stornara

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A large blue portrait of a woman, painted by Leticia Mandragora in 2020, dominates the center square in the small Italian town of Stornara.

large mural of a woman's portrait done in blue. She has long black hair with a dark purple rose in her hair. Also, purple lipstick, hand with purple nail polish on her forehead.

Over the past few years, the organization Stornara Life, has been responsible for bringing artists to the town to paint murals. There are now more than 100 of them.  Mandragora’s blue portraits are now on three of the walls in this town including this young girl on the side of a residential building.  It was painted in 2023 as part of the annual Stramurales festival.

on the side of a residential building, a mural, portrait of a young girl in blue

“Reginae Mater Natura” from August 2021

a small car is parked in front of a mural of a naked woman whose legs are folded so she is in a modest pose, painted by Leticia Mandragora, in the ton of Stornara Italy

He is San Rocco, a 14th century pilgrim who was known for his ability to cure those with the plague…before he himself died of it

statue of a saint in a town square in Italy, with a blue mural of a woman by Leticia Mandragora behind

paper and old paint in Polignano a Mare

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below: On the left is a little Nuno Costah character with a bird on its hand and the world on its back, all showing más love. Beside it is a portrait of Domenico Modugno by bio dpi (aka Fabio della Ratta). Domenico Modugno (1928-1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, then, a member of the Italian Parliament.

below: On the south side of the city is this old wall.

below: Two old reddish faces

below: A crab with its insides exposed takes on a squid

below: A boy and his cat.

below: A little black Qwerty figure partially obscured by a scowling blue man from Beijing Tattoo China.

below: Ti apprezzo – I cherish you.

below: Tiny coloured drawing of a young woman with three flowers, along with what looks like another woman in profile drawn with parallel black lines. Also, at the bottom, an AU OSCE sticker

below: And last, a little yellow feathery bird with skinny legs and a cap with a W.

Murales Campo 65

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In Altamura a wall has been painted with copies of old photographs of Campo 65. This camp, or center, began as a Prisoner of War camp during World War 2. Allied POWs were held here in 1942 and 1943. It was also a training center for troops that liberated Yugoslavia in 1945. After the war was over, it was then used to house refugees.

mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from WW2, one is a woman on a bicycle
mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from WW2, a group of 6 images in a row

below: The 36 barracks contained up to 12,000 Allied prisoners of war: British, South African, New Zealand, Canadian, Cypriots, and Palestinians mainly from the North African war front. It was the largest Italian WW2 prisoner of war camp.

mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from WW2, row of white buildings, barracks
mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from World War 2, one image is a woman's portrait, the other is a man in a pith helmet type hat
black and white image in a mural, a group of men playing in a band including an accordion, a drum and a trombone
two men standing by a car from the 40s, black and white image on mural
mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from WW2, group of men
group photo of women in military uniforms, including hats, made into a mural in grey tones

mural in shades of grey using images of old photographs from Camp 65 from WW2

two black and white photographs of people and life at camp 65, turned into images on a mural painted on a wall, one shows two women standing in front of small white buildings
campo 65

Murals painted by: Donato Lerusso, Marco Forte, and Mattia Pellegrino, 2022

Photos taken February 2024

Nettuno over Taranto

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large mural of Roman god Neptune, on top of a reddish coloured building

Nettuno, or Neptune as he is known in English, is the Roman God of the sea who controlled the winds and storms encountered by sailors. This large mural by Kraser Tres stands over part of the waterfront in the Italian city of Taranto – Neptune holds his trident as he looks out toward the Ionian Sea. Nettuno tiene il suo tridente mentre guarda verso il Mar Ionio.

Roman god Neptune, Nettuno, stands holding a trident, seen from the waist up, a mural by Kraser Tres

The mural was part of a Gulìa Urbana project. This organization has been bringing murals to Italian cities for 12 years.

Photos taken February 2024.