Orgosolo, Sardinian street art town

 

The Sardinian hill town of Orgosolo is one of the historic villages of Barbagia, the region where Italy meets its most archaic rural community. Located 20 km from Nuoro, it extends at the foot of the Supramonte, a mountainous plateau in the heart of Sardinia, famous trekking destination characterized by a wild vegetation, canyons and caves. Perched on a steep hillside shaped by olive trees and ancient dry-stone walls, this town of sheperds and farmers is a special place enterely devoted to the street art. Colors are everywhere: on the little balconies, between shops, along the alleys and narrow streets, on houses doors and walls. Made by water paint, artworks gets re-painted only if the written message needs to be noticed; otherwise, they are fated to disappear. Styles range from Impressionism to Hyperrealism, and from Naïve Art to Realism.

On the right, we got the mural which portrays women from Orgosolo while taking water from the spring named Sa Untana de Patteri, a historic water source located in the historic center.

Orgosolo art collection began in 1969. Back then the town’s rebel soul no doubt came out when it successfully resisted the Italian military plan to create a base on common land used by local shepherds. This episode, known as the Pratobello uprising, was commemorated in the first of the murals signed by Dioniso, an anarchic group from Milan. A few years later, this first mural inspired Francesco Del Casino, a Tuscan artist from Siena who came to Orgosolo to work in the local school as art teacher. He made mural art an ongoing local activity in 1975 when he decided to paint with his students a series of frescoes to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Partisan Liberation from Nazi-Fascism. Initially, it was a question of paper posters. Then, unfortunately, the paper deteriorated quickly, so they started to paint, turning a simple school initiative into a big event which saw the partecipation of the entire village.

We got two artworks by art teacher Francesco Del Casino. The first portrays Italian singer Fabrizio de André, and the second women from Orgosolo.

The political and social fervor of the 70s gave life to other collective murals with dramatic figures, with narrations of the lives of shepherds, of misery and of land disputes. Since then the mural tradition has never stopped, and today we come across, just walking through the streets, different types of paintings with different dimensions and contents. From cubist graphics telling stories about global social injustices – from Vietnam to Gaza – to frescoes with scenes from everyday rural life.

We got a mural by Francesco Del Casino (Spain July 18, 1936 and July 18, 1986) restored in the 2000.