Trebbio: Dualities of Nature

Commissioned by “Pro Loco Trebbio”
Date: June 2024 – Size approximately 320 square meters – Located in Sansepolcro, Italy
Medium: water based wall paint and solvent based spray paints

These murals for “Pro Loco Trebbio” were painted in June 2024, over a period of 2,5 weeks.

It is so far my biggest project and has been quite a challenge in every step of the way.

These two murals contain a collaboration with a locally born artist, Franco Alessandrini, who lives between New Orleans, Louisiana, and the town of Sansepolcro in Italy. He contributed with sketches of the word “Trebbio” that I incorporated in the central part of the two designs.

Franco is an incredible artist and his work is really dear to the citizens of Sansepolcro. He inspired many painters from the town, including myself, therefore it has been a great honor to collaborate with him and challenge myself into reproducing his style with my skills.

A few words about the project and concept

These two murals depict Nature in two of its many aspects: agriculture, or a nature tamed to the will of men and the wilderness of spontaneous plants and wild animals.

For me Trebbio is a lovely balance between these two aspects. The two depicted women are allegories, personifications of these aspects of Nature, complementary to each other and mirrored. They can be seen as the Greek goddesses Demetra of the cultivated fields and Artemide, hunter goddess of the woods and wilderness.

The designs for the two writings “Trebbio” has been kindly provided by the artist Franco Alessandrini on request of the commissioner and other locals and I did my best to incorporate it smoothly in the artworks.

The wall about agriculture contains a picture of the local priest, who deeply cared for the area and was loved and respected by many of its inhabitants: don Duilio Mengozzi. He is also considered a hero for his contribution, during World War II, to saving Jewish families. He helped them escape from the Nazi occupiers across the nearby river. The fox in the “wilderness wall” is meant to represent don Duilio’s bravery and cunning.

My father was born in this area, he and my grandparents used to live there as farmers with the rest of the extended family in a big countryside house. When we were kids he used to take us on bike tours there, and I have vivid memories of everything Nature: the golden ears of wheat, the fragile poppi flowers, the sweet mulberry’s berries and the perfume of chamomille flowers.

As a teenager I used to go there with friends and take artsy photos in the sunflower fields, bumping into wild animals was a common occurrence.

All these impressions converged into this artwork that is about a place and its nature, but also about my family and my roots. The farm house depicted in the “wilderness wall” is the house where my family used to live and my father was born. A painting of it was hanging in my grandparents’ living room.