From June 24 to September 24, 2023, Una Boccata d’Arte, the contemporary art project promoted by Fondazione Elpis in collaboration with Galleria Continua and with the participation of Threes, returns. The openings will be held on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 in all the villages.
Over the course of the summer, it will thus be possible to discover exhibitions, projects and site-specific installations in unexpected places, along a cultural itinerary that winds capillaries throughout the peninsula, creating an unprecedented dialogue between art and territory. An invitation to travel and discover the surprising heritage that surrounds us, an inexhaustible source of beauty, history and traditions to explore.
The villages selected for the fourth edition of A Breath of Art are: Fénis (AO) in Valle d’Aosta; Vermogno – hamlet of Zubiena (BI) in Piedmont; Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena (SV) in Liguria; Gardone Riviera (BS) in Lombardy; Pieve Tesino (TN) in Trentino-Alto Adige; Costozza – hamlet of Longare (VI) in Veneto; Aquileia (UD) in Friuli-Venezia Giulia; Travo (PC) in Emilia-Romagna; and Fosdinovo (MS) in Tuscany; Toscolano – hamlet of Avigliano Umbro (TR) in Umbria; Petritoli (FM) in Marche; Rocca Sinibalda (RI) in Lazio; Pietracamela (TE) in Abruzzo; Agnone (IS) in Molise; Cetara (SA) in Campania; Maruggio (TA) in Apulia; Rivello (PZ) in Basilicata; Santa Severina (KR) in Calabria; Pollina (PA) in Sicily; Belvì (NU) in Sardinia.
Una Boccata d’Arte is a project conceived in 2020 by Marina Nissim, President of Elpis Foundation, in reaction to the pandemic, to give a signal of encouragement to local communities and at the same time create opportunities for expression for talented and emerging artists, at a time when all cultural venues were closed. With the aim of enhancing the historical and scenic heritage of small towns, far from the traditional circuits of art and tourism, Una Boccata d’Arte engages in an annual search for 20 villages with less than 5 thousand inhabitants, located in different areas to rediscover the entire regional territory. By virtue of their collected size, these places become the ideal context for artistic experimentation and the creation of new imagery.
The initiative nurtures a widespread network of relationships and participation that becomes wider each year: to date, 80 municipalities and 80 artists have been involved, along with technical sponsors, local associations and people who in various capacities have made it possible to carry out the interventions. With each edition of Una Boccata d’Arte, more and more villages apply to participate in the project, and in the last three years, thanks to the administrations’ acquisitions and artists’ donations, as many as 20 installations have become permanent.