Fiumara d’Arte
The idea of “Fiumara d’Arte” arose in 1982, when the sudden death of his father forced Antonio Presti to interrupt an happy youth, he thought of dedicating a monument to the memory of his father and asked the sculptor Pietro Consagra.
Antonio Presti thought at once about making it something more than a simply private matter, a tombstone in his own garden. Therefore he decided to donate the sculpture to the community and the thought of placing it at the mouth of the torrent Fiumara. He was already thinking about giving life to a sculpture park, blending of contemporary language and the rugged beauty of the place. The inauguration of Consagra’s sculpture “ The Matter could not be”(la Materia poteva
non esserci), on October the 12th 1986, coincided with the announcement of the open-air museum. Meanwhile Antonio Presti had already contacted another sculptor, Paolo Schiavocampo to whom he commissioned a sculpture to place at the junction of the road leading to Castel di Lucio. He also involved the painter Tano Festa. During a visit to the artist laboratory, Presti discovered his sketch for “Monument to a Dead Poet”(Monumento per un poeta morto), which he decided to realize in a monumental size on the seafront at Villa Margi. Schiavocampo’s artwork, titled “A Curve Thrown at the Back of Time” (Una curva gettata alle spalle del tempo), was realized on January the 30th 1988, at the same time as a sculpture competition for artists aged under forty organized by Antonio Presti, who got together an international jury. Fifty-five sketches were submitted.
The chosen ones were the ones by Antonio Di Palma (Florence) and Italo Lanfredini (Mantova). Festa’s artwork, re-titled by residents “Window on the Sea”(Finestra sul mare), was inaugurated on June the 24 th 1989, together with Nagasawa’s work on the Romei Torrent. “Mediterranean Energy” (Energia mediterranea) by Antonio Di Palma and “Ariadne’s Labyrinth”(Labirinto di Arianna). By that time Arethusa, the very colourful ceramic decoration of the Carabinieri barracks of Castel di Lucio done by Piero Dorazio with the collaboration of Graziano Marini, had already
been completed. Meanwhile in 1991 Antonio Presti inaugurated Atelier sul Mare, a hotel at Castel di Tusa, entrusting various artists with making the rooms. The history of this fascinating museum-hotel in which every work of art becomes its own temporary dwelling, though linked to the extraordinary development of Fiumara Park, constituting a sort of hermitage of pilgrims of art.
In 1993 Antonio Presti invited forty young ceramists 1 from all over Europe to do a collective work on the containment wall of a Fiumara Park road, which thus became “The wall of life” (Il muro della vita). On January 2 6th 2006, after more than twenty years of battles, the monumental artworks of the Park were recognized and helped by the regional Government who has approved 3 the institution of the cultural-tourist plan of Fiumara d'Arte (Regional Law 6/06 titled "Tourist valorisation - Use and conservation of Fiumara d'Arte’s artworks"). On May 4 the 25th 2007, was inaugurated the first restoration of a contemporary open air artwork with monumental size: “Monument to a Dead Poet”( Window on the Sea) by 5 Tano Festa. On 15 May the 15th, 2009, after 10 years of cultural and social activity, Antonio Presti donated to the suburbs “LIBRINO” (Catania), “The gate of the beauty”, the first artwork of the open museum “Terzocchio Meridiani di Luce”, it was realized by 10.000 children from district’s school. The president of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano and Pope Benedetto XVI sent some gratitude and appreciation letters about the ethical commitment of the work doing in Librino, periphery of Catania but metaphor for all the margins of the world. Catania City gave to Antonio Presti the honorary citizenship to say him thanks. On March the 21st, 2010, at the park was born a new sculpture, “The Pyramid - 38° parallel”, massive opera by Mauro Staccioli. Every 9 year, on the occasion of the days of the summer solstice, The Pyramid is opened during the celebration of cultural event “Rite of light”, where all children and teens take part from the school of the Nebrodi and Madonie Park. Antonio Presti commits to the Pyramid the illumination of the present and future consciences.
