Visiting Sicily has become one of my traditions year after year. Originally, I started going there because of the development courses that organized in the field of my work, but I quickly fell in love with the island, and this year even my husband visited me for a weekend in Palermo which he really didn't want to do before. And guess what? He fell in love with the island and is considering buying a property in the place of my school.
I feel kind of strange about it, but we will see if anything will become of this idea or not. We have recently finished renovation works of our house and I'm not sure if I want to go through this hassle again, especially in Italy. It was difficult enough to do it in Switzerland. I feel like this is a topic for a separate post, so I will go back to what I wanted to talk about.
This school provides specialized courses with cultural experience. It means that a few times a week there is a trip in the afternoon to get to know the island a bit. We have visited archaeological sites, charming cities, vineries, and some places that have a lot to say. One of these places is Old Gibellina, also known as Cretto di Burri.
Trapani was heavily damaged during the earthquake in 1968, and you can see the consequences even today. Some cities have been rebuilt in different locations, and there are still many houses that are being left in decay while the owners moved elsewhere. It is a region where you can buy cheap houses which actually became quite trendy. There are some conditions attached to such purchases, but it works and the region is becoming more lively. When I came for the first time, there were no English speaks in the town, and I was surprised to hear English all over the place when I was there this year in September.
So, Cretto di Burri is an artwork which is built over the destroyed city of Gibellina. The ruins are buried in huge mass of concrete, and there are many streets in the artwork, so you can walk around. It is a surreal experience that I cannot really described. At first, I considered this place very dark, but this year I learned that there was a large party with speakers all over the place, so I started to think about it differently.
You can see Cretto di Burri from afar. I can say that it's huge, but you can only comprehend its size when you visit it. You would never think of a place of concrete that is this big. We came in the late afternoon, so the light was not ideal for photos, and therefore you can see some of our shadows 😊
This year has been heavy on Sicily in terms of wildfires. I could see some every day during my 2 weeks long visit. I was surprised when locals told us that many of those fires are done intentionally. I don't understand why though. You can see that dark smoke in the back, and this was the biggest fire that I have seen. We were driving for 30 minutes and still could see it, so this can give you an indication about how big it was.
It was the first time that I could truly enjoy the artwork. Normally, I visit Sicily in June, so you can imagine how hot it can be in the afternoon when you are surrounded by concrete. This time, the sun was slowly setting down and it was the perfect weather for the visit. And I'm not only going to talk about the company as I'm still missing each one of them. We had such a great time!
The concrete walls are as tall as me, so I couldn't climb them, but some of my friends managed to get up and walk around. However, then we found a ladder and suddenly all of us were up. I could enjoy those views forever.
Normally, I would write something about each of my photos, but I think that these photos don't need much words.
I have been talking about Old Gibellina, so you might ask (or not) if there is New Gibellina too? Yes, there is! It's about 30 minutes drive from Old Gibellina and it became the artistic heart of the region, maybe even of Sicily. It's a small town with plenty of artworks around the streets and many museums. It's mainly contemporary art, as well as well as brutalism design. It is not only in the artwork, but in the architecture too. The city is not being used to its full potential, but I do know somehow from New Gibellina who is very passionate about the city, and we suggested him to try and become mayor which didn't sound to him as a crazy idea. So who knows, he might be successful and do necessary changes too.
I have never considered Sicily as a place where I would like to go. It might be because so many people go there on vacation, and now I understand why. I am convinced that their experience is different as I'm not spending time on the beach, but with the locals in the heart of the island, but I can imagine that spending vacation here can be an amazing experience too.
I haven't booked my course for next year yet, but I think I have decided already what I want to do, so it looks like I will be going there in May again. And I cannot wait! Food, people, nature and lifestyle - it does look like a belong here 😊 And maybe by then we will have our own place there to go to.
I have just checked the weather over there and I wish I was there even more!
Thank you for reading and until next time!