Neve sull’Etna

Tapestries Cotton with acrylics
Single artwork

550,00

Description by the artist

L’Etna, a muntagna (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 98, Width 76
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) Syracuse, view of the city and the harbor from the sea. Mount Etna on the background

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Neve sull’Etna

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