Ragusa – The president of the Region, Nello Musumeci, opened on Monday evening the vernissage of the exhibition “People of Sicily” which, in the foyers of the Donnafugata Theater in Ragusa Ibla, contains the private collection of the Arezzo-DiQuattro family concerning the statuettes made in the nineteenth century by two master figurine makers from Calatini Bongiovanni-Vaccaro. The exhibition will be available for free every day (except Mondays) from 1 June to 8 July (reservations required online at www.teatrodonnafugata.it).
Organized by the Donnafugata 2000 association, the exhibition is promoted by the regional department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, led by the councilor Alberto Samonà, and is curated by the critic Costantino D’Orazio. Forty statuettes in ancient ceramic, exhibited for the first time to the public, allow you to delve into a historical and social journey in Sicily in the 1800s.
A path that opens a time window on that industriousness of the people, precisely the “People of Sicily”, observed by the special eyes of the Bongiovanni-Vaccaro masters who with their particular technique of working clay, then painted, revive those people intent on carrying out their daily actions, surrounded by all the accessories, utensils, work tools, household clothes, but also by their expressions that demonstrate how the master figurines were great poets because, explained the curator Costantino D ‘Horace, they knew not only to tell the reality in detail but to show us how much the simplest people, even with little, knew how to feel deep emotions. A collection that made an extraordinary journey: the works were in fact made in Caltagirone but were purchased by Baron Corrado Arezzo de Spucches in Dublin, and then brought back to Sicily, in Ragusa, and kept inside Palazzo Arezzo in Donnafugata whose descendants, Vicky and Costanza DiQuattro, are now young collectors.
“The exhibition is a unique opportunity to study the technique of the Bongiovanni Vaccaro – underlined the curator Costantino D’Orazio – who photograph with great acumen scenes of daily life of the time characterized by an original vivacity”. “This exhibition – said the regional councilor Alberto Samonà – catapults the traveler into a small and varied world from which a dimension of Sicily emerges that smells of authenticity”.
President Musumeci launched the idea of creating a Sicilian circuit concerning the exhibition and art of Bongiovanni-Vaccaro: “The value of the works on display – he said – suggests the opportunity to create a circuit with at least two or three other stages in the Val di Noto to discover the art and places of these master figurines “.
The use of the exhibition is free, but reservations are required at the link www.teatrodonnafugata.it to limit admissions in compliance with the anti-Covid rules. Exhibition hours: from 10.00 to 20.00, from Tuesday to Sunday with one hour slots for each booking shift. The project for the exhibition itinerary is by the Sciveres Guarini Associati studio. The photos in the catalog are by Giuseppe Bornò. Sponsor of the exhibition: Free Consortium of Iblei Municipalities, Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa, Municipality of Ragusa, Adecco. For info: www.teatrodonnafugata.it – 334 220 8186 – [email protected].