WINE CELLARS BECOME ARTIST’S ATELIER WITH ‘VIAGGIO IN SICILIA’: THE RETURN OF THE FASCINATING (NON PROFIT) PROJECT TO HELP REDISCOVER THE TERRITORY, ORGANIZED BY NUVOLE DI PALERMO AND THE PLANETA WINERY

‘Viaggio in Sicilia’ (Voyage to Sicily), one of the most fascinating projects to promote the Sicilian territory, has once again been organized by Planeta (www.planeta.it), one of the most noted names in Italian wine, and by the association Nuvole di Palermo (www.associazionenuvole.it).
On May 27th the official inauguration was held for an art exhibition set in the fascinating Spasimo di Palermo, displaying over forty works of designs, paintings, incisions, and photographs by eight different artists. Curator Raffaella De Pasquale personally chose artists Alessandro Bazan, Sandro Bracchitta, Raffaele Bueno, Stefania Fabrizi, Nathalie Grenier, Catherina Keun, Croce Taravella and the photographer Sandro Scalia to participate in the show.
The works have also been organized into a catalogue that is a sort of reportage of art images that take a voyage through Sicily. The eight artists have captured the magnificent southern coast, with different interpretations of its landscapes and social realities. A totally incomparable territory for its complexities and fascination, in which modernity and tradition live together within a millenary stratification.
The itinerary took place during the fall grape harvest, passing through the Planeta wineries at Noto, Vittoria, Menfi, and Sambuca. A trip from east to west, among the ancient and modern rituals of winemaking, in which the grape vines create the line that follows through thousands of years of history. The tour ends at the Sambuca winery, where an atelier had be created for the artists as a space to work on their projects. And from May 27 to June 25, 2006, these creations will be on display at the monumental complex Spasimo di Palermo.
The next step for this evolving exhibition will be the territory’s archeological museum, and then the Palazzo Planeta in Menfi. Donated by the Planeta family to the municipality of Menfi, the palace has now become a multi-cultural center that will host a permanent collection of the winery’s contemporary art collection.