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L’Etna si maritau cu lu cielu

Tapestries Cotton with acrylics
Single artwork

750,00

Description by the artist

L’Etna si maritau cu lu cielu (Sicilian for Etna married the sky) is the title of this work. L’Etna a muntagna (Sicilian for “the mountain”, as the people of Catania call it) of mysterious charm. A muntagna, divine entity that has inspired legends and mythological tales and mother of very fertile lands.

Details and dimensions

Dimensions (cm): Height 130, Width 108
Weight (kg): 1
Handcrafted in Sicily

The artwork in the Sicilian culture

By the Governance of Sicilian Artisan Foundation

Etna, the highest volcano in Europe (3300 meters above sea level), imperiously dominates the eastern part of Sicily, but it is so huge that it can be seen up to hundreds of kilometers away. Men of all ages have climbed to the top starting with the philosopher Empedocle from Agrigento (V B.C.) who, according to legend, ended his life by throwing himself into it. The toponym (Aitna) seems to derive from some word whose etymology, leads back to the meaning “I burn”. For the Arabs of Sicily (IX-XI century) it was a mountain twice as high and they called it Mons (mount) Gebel (mountain), twice a mountain; and until the recent past (but also today) the Sicilians called it Mongibello. But its Sicilian name par excellence is: “a muntagna”. It has given work to the nivalori (that they collected the snow, they preserved it in the caves of the volcano and then they sold it in the villages), to the coalmen, to the gatherers of the Ginestra (excellent for the bakers). In this work of art, its ash, which during frequent eruptions falls like rain on nearby towns (and people have to equip themselves with umbrellas), has been eternally “trapped” in a canvas.

(photo) Catania, view of the city and port at the foot of Mount Etna. Cathedral visible at center, XIX  century

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