While walking around the old part of Vieste, an Italian town on the Adriatic coast, I spotted three paste-up collages by Demetrio Di Grado, his “Frammenti Sparsi” (Scattered Fragments)
below: In each collage there were old black and white photos of people with words covering their eyes. This one has not survived very well. I am not sure what word obscures the girl’s eyes (my Italian is not good enough) and it appears that she was not alone in the beginning.
below: Put it all together to get “Cambiate le vostre idee ma conservate i vostri principi.” (Change your ideas but keep your principles).
below: Combining spray paint and collage, “odiao amarmi” – They hate to love me. The little girl in the collage has lost her words, once they were “amano odiarmi” – The love to hate me.
Di Grado’s artwork was part of the local Collateral Maris Festival in September 2022.
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.
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: “Mamma perdono” by Sabotaje al Montaje – here a fisherman catches plastic caps instead of fish, a comment on water pollution.
below: Two large murals on adjacent buildings, both painted by Chekos.
below: It’s their world – Children who are friends in real life too, Andrea and Fatou.
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.
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?
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.”
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.
A large blue portrait of a woman, painted by Leticia Mandragora in 2020, dominates the center square in the small Italian town of Stornara.
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.
“Reginae Mater Natura” from August 2021
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
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.
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.
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.
Murals painted by: Donato Lerusso, Marco Forte, and Mattia Pellegrino, 2022
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.
The mural was part of a Gulìa Urbana project. This organization has been bringing murals to Italian cities for 12 years.
below: A street in the Trastevere neighbourhood in Rome.
below: A collection of paste-ups (or wheatpastes) from a number of artists.
below: The large simplified guy has Frafimi written on his tummy while the blue hand says “Smile please” as it seems to reach for a skunk. Draw is on the run, The Chosen Few Worldwide show a fist and Horus, at the far right, has weird eyes.
below: T.A.C.I.M. Collective‘s black and white portrait of a woman with long hair beside a funny looking Jack’o’lantern (i.e. a pumpkin with a face carved into it).
below: Blackheart boy of The Chosen Few with another black and white woman’s portrait. She partially covers that strange image of the two men. ”Liebe” is on the screen at TV Clan. Liebe is love.
below: Urban ninja squadron from Toronto makes an appearance. There is also a circular drawing by Streetartee of a women’s leg emerging from a swirl of hair – being reborn. The I ‘heart’ mare is also one of hers. On the top left, with big lips and finny feet is Fishes Invasion (aka Merioone). This little fish gets around; I have seen his image in so many places!
below: A combination of streetartee (aka 11tee, or Tracey) and Alessandro Spun (aka spun29) and a large black and white Marilyn Monroe. This is one of those pieces that I struggle with but the fact that streetartee is female seems to make it easier for me to accept it. ”Vivi di gusto” is live with taste while “vivi disgusto” is experience disgust. An interesting play on words.
below: No Limits
below: Another wall, another collection.
below: Two faces with a heart in the middle. The face on the left is an example of pareidolia since the ripped paper forms two eyes, a forehead, and a mouth – our brains see those shapes and interprets it as a face. The other pieces are more paste-ups by streetartee.
below: It’s not a very good photo, but this little image of a woman lying on a cauliflower that has been cut in two is another Spun29 piece. The words, “pelle morta di ventisette anni” translate to “dead skin of twenty-seven years”. And I will leave you with that profound thought…..
Photos taken December 2019
If you are interested, there is a previous blog post from a couple of years ago with more Trastevere slaps
My last post, Under an Ostiense railway bridge, showed some of the graffiti and street art that I saw there a few years ago. This post includes more photos of the artwork (and scribbles) that were seen. There was a lot! Even this is only a small portion of the total.
below: Leonardo Crudi 900 poster on the bottom and BVKA on the right .
below: Foto star Ostiense photo of a woman between a large yellow mushroomy fungus type guy and BVKA who puts the same black head on most of his work.
below: Closer look at Leonardo Crudi 900,
below: The angel resting her head on a trash bin, Cancelletto (aka Rizio Ticenco)
below: He says “Smile!” but the croc is not interested.
below: Icarus on the bottom and a greenish crocodile face on the left. I am not sure what the woman is doing or thinking but that looks like a very long cigarette in her hand.
Once upon a time, about 2013, on Via Ostiense under the railway tracks, a group of artists painted the concrete walls… Names like 2501, moneyless, andreco, tellas, Martina Merlini, ozmo, and gaia. By January 2020 only parts of them could be seen. This post shows part of those concrete walls as they appeared at the beginning of 2020 (other parts of the bridge to follow in subsequent posts).
The artist 2501 (aka Jacopo Ceccarelli) is known for his black and white striped creations and some of those were still visible along with realistic looking hands and faces that were probably painted by others.
below: A tarot card with an image of Temperance. She is often an angel and is one of the three virtues found in tarot cards along with Justice and Strength. A woman mixing water into wine was a standard allegory of Temperance in European art.
below: “#BackToBlue” by Luca Maleonte, the original 2014 mural was tagged over before I saw it and just the top central two figures could be seen.
below: I found this photo online of the mural after it had just been painted.
below: The artist who created these is leonardo crudi novecento (Leonardo Crudi) The description of the black and yellow poster on his Instagram is “Alle bestie che strisciano da varie fessure Bisbiglio piano, di mio arbitrio: Prospera Allora mi guardo intorno – ma forse agisco, Sventurato contro la volonta di qualcuno Prigov e gli scarafaggi” Using Google Translate – “To the beasts that crawl from various cracks I whisper softly, of my own free will: Prosperous Then I look around – but perhaps I act, Wretched against someone’s will Prigov and the cockroaches” Prigov refers to Dmitri Prigov, a Russian writer and artist.
below: Helicopter silhouette
Pictures taken January 2020
The next installment of graffiti found under the Ostiense bridge is here – another section
Eyes on the Streets 