Aspetti artistici nei borghi rurali siciliani degli anni Quaranta

The paper analyses the artistic decorations present in the first eight rural villages built in Sicily in 1940 following the law on the colonisation of the Sicilian rural areas. After a brief introduction on the importance of the relationship between art and architecture during Fascism in Italy, the most common types of intervention are presented. They are identified through analyses of the unpublished photographic documentation in box no. 111 of the Accascina Fund, stored in the Regional Library of Palermo, and a bibliographic research both on the historic and on the contemporary sources. Artistic works are distinguishable in religious and civil, and the latter, in turn, in official representative and “popular” works. In addition, the intervention focuses on artists involved, especially on Alfonso Amorelli and some of his unpublished works, as well as on Giovanni Ballarò and Giovanni Rosone. Beyond the different styles, the favourite techniques (fresco, tempera, stone sculpture, ceramic and terracotta) and the subjects, this paper aims to emphasise the role of public art in these specific contexts. In fact, the artistic decoration was crucial to illustrate the concrete presence of the divinity, even in those places far from the countries of origin, and the ideal values of the fascist society to pursue (i.e. work and family). We will also demonstrate the intent to arouse a sort of identification among the inhabitants of the villages and the subjects depicted, in order to create a widespread sense of belonging and the foundations of the new community that would be established and implanted in those new centres.