Beautiful Italian Street Art By Alice Pasquini In Civitacampomarano
In recent years there has been an explosion of street art and mural festivals around the world from large-scale events in major cities to the more modestly scaled independent street art festivals in smaller towns and villages.
Street Art Festivals
Each year when making our travel plans for the new year ahead, I try to make an effort to select a street art festival or destination to travel to, one I might not have previously visited.
In recent years there has been a drastic rise in the number of mural/street art festivals right across the globe, from large-scale events in major cities to the more modestly scaled independent events in smaller towns and villages.
Many of the larger festivals have firmly established themselves on the annual street art calendar, each attracting large numbers of visitors and street art enthusiasts, many of whom would revisit each year.
Street Art Festivals
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Each year when making our travel plans for the new year ahead, I try to make an effort to select a street art festival or destination to travel to, one I might not have previously visited. In recent years there has been a drastic rise in the number of mural/street art festivals right across the globe, from large-scale events in major cities to the more modestly scaled independent events in smaller towns and villages.
Many of the larger festivals have firmly established themselves on the annual street art calendar, each attracting large numbers of visitors and street art enthusiasts, many of whom would revisit each year.
Events such as NuArt in Stavanger, Norway and their sister festival NuArt Aberdeen in Scotland, The Crystal Ship festival in Ostend, Belgium, MURAL festival in Montreal, Canada, PowWow festival events worldwide, and WaterfordWalls in Waterford, Ireland to name a few.
Street Art And Covid-19
Global events over the last year have seen international travel suspended for many and in the interests of safety, most of the annual street art and mural festivals have had to postpone/reschedule or get creative with this year's festival editions.
A number of street art festivals have chosen to go the digital route with invited street artists painting murals from their studios while streaming live across various social media and streaming platforms, rather than traveling to the festival host city.
For Bristol's annual street art festival UPFEST, street art fans from around the globe were welcomed virtually to the streets of South Bristol. A virtual online edition of the UPFEST festival was launched in September 2020, with 30 artists commissioned to create digital mural artworks for the virtual festival.
Other festival organizers have proceeded with a more scaled-back version of their annual programs with a focus on local and national talent on account of the travel restrictions in place in many countries.
Alice Pasquini Italian Street Art
For this post, I will take a look back at a street art festival we visited in the summer of 2019, sharing a series of unpublished photographs taken during our time attending the festival with a focus on one of the most famous Italian street artists, Alice Pasquini.
Italian artist Alice Pasquini was pictured in Camden, London signing her Everything Flows mural painted in the summer of 2013 on one of her many London visits.
Alice Pasquini London Street Art
Rome-based street artist Alice Pasquini better known to most by her street art moniker Alicè is a frequent visitor to London, and her work has been a regular fixture on the city's streets for a number of years now.
Street Art And Covid-19
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Global events over the last year have seen international travel suspended for many and in the interests of safety, most of the annual street art and mural festivals have had to postpone/reschedule or get creative with this year's festival editions. A number of street art festivals have chosen to go the digital route with invited street artists painting murals from their studios while streaming live across various social media and streaming platforms, rather than traveling to the festival host city.
For Bristol's annual street art festival UPFEST, street art fans from around the globe were welcomed virtually to the streets of South Bristol. A virtual online edition of the UPFEST festival was launched in September 2020, with 30 artists commissioned to create digital mural artworks for the virtual festival.
Other festival organizers have proceeded with a more scaled-back version of their annual programs with a focus on local and national talent on account of the travel restrictions in place in many countries.
Alice Pasquini Italian Street Art
—
For this post, I will take a look back at a street art festival we visited in the summer of 2019, sharing a series of unpublished photographs taken during our time attending the festival with a focus on one of the most famous Italian street artists, Alice Pasquini.
Italian artist Alice Pasquini was pictured in Camden, London signing her Everything Flows mural painted in the summer of 2013 on one of her many London visits.
Alice Pasquini London Street Art
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Rome-based street artist Alice Pasquini better known to most by her street art moniker Alicè is a frequent visitor to London, and her work has been a regular fixture on the city's streets for a number of years now.One of her previous visits to London saw the street artist install a number of small street art pieces as is common for most visiting street artists.
While most artists often focus their efforts in East London's Shoreditch and Brick Lane neighborhoods this visit saw Pasquini install her street artworks right across London, with pieces spray-painted on walls to the East in Shoreditch, North in Camden, and South in Penge.
At the time of her visit, I managed to track down and document the small stencil artworks sharing them on the site shortly after her city visit in the post below.
One of Alice Pasquini's street artworks we found on this rusty gate in the Pigneto area of Rome, Italy.CVTà Street Art Fest, Civitacampomarano, Italy
CVTà Street Art Fest, Civitacampomarano, Italy
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On a subsequent visit, I caught up with Pasquini in person and spoke to her about the independent street art festival 'CVTà Street Fest, Civitacampomarano' in Southern Italy which first took place in 2016.
I had previously seen some coverage online of the 'CVTà Street Fest' and had read that Pasquini had been involved in the curation of the festival since its launch, inviting a selection of international and national street artists to redecorate some of the town's walls with murals and street interventions as part of the festival.
I mentioned in conversation how we would love to visit the festival should it go ahead again - combining our love of street art, travel, and Italian food. At that point in time, the festival dates were not 100% confirmed and Pasquini was to contact me when all the details and artists were finalized.
Traveling to Civitacampomarano, Italy
A month or so later I got a message to say the 'CVTà Street Fest' festival was going ahead and with the dates locked and confirmed I booked ourselves a flight to Rome, Italy.
I caught one of those early flights from London Stansted that always seem like a good idea when you book them, not so much when you are getting a taxi to the airport at 5am in the morning.
I had previously seen some coverage online of the 'CVTà Street Fest' and had read that Pasquini had been involved in the curation of the festival since its launch, inviting a selection of international and national street artists to redecorate some of the town's walls with murals and street interventions as part of the festival.
I mentioned in conversation how we would love to visit the festival should it go ahead again - combining our love of street art, travel, and Italian food. At that point in time, the festival dates were not 100% confirmed and Pasquini was to contact me when all the details and artists were finalized.
Traveling to Civitacampomarano, Italy
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A month or so later I got a message to say the 'CVTà Street Fest' festival was going ahead and with the dates locked and confirmed I booked ourselves a flight to Rome, Italy.I caught one of those early flights from London Stansted that always seem like a good idea when you book them, not so much when you are getting a taxi to the airport at 5am in the morning.
My arrival in Rome was delayed and resulted in a crazy dash across the city, catching a few quick glimpses of Rome on my way to the Tiburtina Bus Station where I would catch a coach to Campobasso, the nearest large town to Civitacampomarano.
The journey from Rome to Campobasso was about two and a half hours and from there I had to change buses, jumping onto a local bus that took us on the next leg of the journey.
Campobasso Street Art
While pulling into the Campobasso Piazza San Pio da Pietrelcina Bus Terminal to change over to a local bus, splashes of colour along the walls of the terminal caught my eye out the window.
How CVTà Street Fest Started
The medieval town of Civitacampomarano is located in the Italian region of Molise region in Southern Italy. Home to only a few hundred mostly elderly residents, the town is located about 35 km north of Campobasso.
It was in 2014 when Ylenia Carelli decided to try and get in touch with Rome-based street artist Alice Pasquini after watching an interview with the artist on TV about street art and her work.
She reached out to the street artist and invited Pasquini to visit the Molise village and paint some of her work around the historic semi-abandoned part of the town. Despite the small population and somewhat remote location of the village, she hoped the artist would respond and accept her invitation.
It turns out that Pasquini's grandfather was born in Civitacampomarano and served as the town's doctor for many years. Ylenia was not aware of this connection when she contacted the artist to paint their town and with this strong family connection, Pasquini was more than happy to accept Ylenia’s invitation.
And with that plans were hatched and led to the creation of the CVTà Street Fest festival which launched in 2016, organized by the pro loco of Civitacampomarano, in collaboration with the CivitArt Cultural Association and Alice Pasquini taking on the role of the festival's artistic director.
“I am happy to continue contributing to such a special initiative which is carried on with passion and enthusiasm by the entire community; says Alice Pasquini. What astonishes me is to see everyone willing to get involved in this and to see places transformed and reborn through creativity, willingness to contribute, and, hopefully permanent, artistic touches"
Street Art In Civitacampomarano, Italy
Since its launch in 2016, each new edition of the festival has seen additional street artworks and interventions created and added to the walls, doorways, and abandoned spaces in Civitacampomarano.
The town now boasts an impressive collection of street art and murals and along with the collection in nearby Campobasso, the region has put itself on the map as a top destination for street art fans.
The previous edition of the festival has seen internationally renowned artists leave their mark on the village and now includes works from artists,Addfuel (Portugal), MP5 (Italy), Ampparito (Spain), Don’t talk about Bruno (Italy), Alice Pasquini (Italy), Martin Watson (Norway), Jan Vorman (Germany), Nespoon (Poland), Alex Senna (Sao Paulo), Mais Minos, 2501 (Italy), Alberonero, David de la Mano (Uruguay), Hitnes (Italy), Biancoshock (Italy), Maria Pia Picozza (Italy), ICKS (Italy), Pablo S. Herrero ( Spain), Milu Correch (Argentina), Bosoletti (Argentina).
Street Artist Alice Pasquini on the roof of Angevin Castle looking out across the rooftops of Civitacampomarano, Italy.
Street Art By Alice Pasquini In Civitacampomarano
Wider shot of the stencil piece pictured above and below for scale. A version of this by Pasquini's work was also painted on a wall in East London on Commercial Street and shared here on our Hookedblog Instagram at the start of 2020.
Close-up detail of the children of Civitacampomarano playing in this stencil piece by Alice Pasquini.
Close-up detail of one of the many street artworks by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy.
Pictured above is one of two larger mural works painted by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy
Guided Street Art Tours of Civitacampomarano
Local resident and president of the CivitArt Cultural Association, Barbara Manuele pictured above was kind enough to give us a guided tour around the abandoned part of the town during our first visit.
During the tour, she shared stories with us about the history of Civitacampomarano, the festival, and some of the benefits it has brought to the town since its inception in 2016. She also helped us locate some of the smaller somewhat hidden street art pieces by Alice Pasquini painted in the semi-abandoned part of the town.
Organized 90 minutes tours are usually available as part of the four days of planned activities that take place as part of the annual festival, with local high school kids and locals guiding visitors around the village taking in all the street art from the previous festival editions. With some 7,000 people passing through the small town over the four-day festival period, you can imagine these tours are pretty popular with visitors.
Here I am above pictured catching up with Alice Pasquini on the 'Twitter Bench' as captured by photographer Ian Cox aka Wallkandy at the 2018 edition of the festival.
The bench was created as part of WEB 0.0, a project by artist Biancoshock installed as part of the CVTA' Street Fest 2016 edition.
Works by Pasquini based on vintage photos depicting village life in Civitacampomarano, Italy.
The journey from Rome to Campobasso was about two and a half hours and from there I had to change buses, jumping onto a local bus that took us on the next leg of the journey.
One of the many mural artworks painted on the walls of the Campobasso Bus Station. Pictured is the work of Belgian street artist ROA.
Campobasso Street Art
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While pulling into the Campobasso Piazza San Pio da Pietrelcina Bus Terminal to change over to a local bus, splashes of colour along the walls of the terminal caught my eye out the window. Once I have located the departure point and times for the next leg of my adventure I went to explore the mural works painted along the walls of the station. Making my way around the station I was pleasantly surprised to spot some large-scale artworks featuring the mural works of some high-profile street artists.
The large walls of the station featured work by street artists such as Belgian artist Roa, Italian street artists BLU, Erica il cane, Domenico Tirino aka Naf-Mk, and a number of other street artists who had painted murals as part of the international Graffiti and Street Art Festival Draw The Line founded back in 2011.
Almost There, the Last Leg of the Journey
The regional bus from Campobasso took me outside the city and dropped me off on the side of a motorway in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.
From there a phone call was made and we waited a short time taking in the beautiful landscapes around us and enjoying the silence of the remote location. It wasn't long before a car appeared and we were warmly welcomed by the resident and president of Civitacampomarano's cultural organization, Ylenia Carelli.
Looking across the rooftops of Civitacampomarano, Italy from the viewing deck of the Angevin castle.
Almost There, the Last Leg of the Journey
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The regional bus from Campobasso took me outside the city and dropped me off on the side of a motorway in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. From there a phone call was made and we waited a short time taking in the beautiful landscapes around us and enjoying the silence of the remote location. It wasn't long before a car appeared and we were warmly welcomed by the resident and president of Civitacampomarano's cultural organization, Ylenia Carelli.
With our camera bags and luggage packed into the car, we set off in the car with Ylenia and made the last leg of our journey up some winding Italian roads towards Civitacampomarano, taking in the stunning rolling views along the way are we drove up to the village.
Looking across the rooftops of Civitacampomarano, Italy from the viewing deck of the Angevin castle.
How CVTà Street Fest Started
—
The medieval town of Civitacampomarano is located in the Italian region of Molise region in Southern Italy. Home to only a few hundred mostly elderly residents, the town is located about 35 km north of Campobasso.It was in 2014 when Ylenia Carelli decided to try and get in touch with Rome-based street artist Alice Pasquini after watching an interview with the artist on TV about street art and her work.
She reached out to the street artist and invited Pasquini to visit the Molise village and paint some of her work around the historic semi-abandoned part of the town. Despite the small population and somewhat remote location of the village, she hoped the artist would respond and accept her invitation.
It turns out that Pasquini's grandfather was born in Civitacampomarano and served as the town's doctor for many years. Ylenia was not aware of this connection when she contacted the artist to paint their town and with this strong family connection, Pasquini was more than happy to accept Ylenia’s invitation.
And with that plans were hatched and led to the creation of the CVTà Street Fest festival which launched in 2016, organized by the pro loco of Civitacampomarano, in collaboration with the CivitArt Cultural Association and Alice Pasquini taking on the role of the festival's artistic director.
“I am happy to continue contributing to such a special initiative which is carried on with passion and enthusiasm by the entire community; says Alice Pasquini. What astonishes me is to see everyone willing to get involved in this and to see places transformed and reborn through creativity, willingness to contribute, and, hopefully permanent, artistic touches"
Street Art In Civitacampomarano, Italy
—
Since its launch in 2016, each new edition of the festival has seen additional street artworks and interventions created and added to the walls, doorways, and abandoned spaces in Civitacampomarano.The town now boasts an impressive collection of street art and murals and along with the collection in nearby Campobasso, the region has put itself on the map as a top destination for street art fans.
The previous edition of the festival has seen internationally renowned artists leave their mark on the village and now includes works from artists,Addfuel (Portugal), MP5 (Italy), Ampparito (Spain), Don’t talk about Bruno (Italy), Alice Pasquini (Italy), Martin Watson (Norway), Jan Vorman (Germany), Nespoon (Poland), Alex Senna (Sao Paulo), Mais Minos, 2501 (Italy), Alberonero, David de la Mano (Uruguay), Hitnes (Italy), Biancoshock (Italy), Maria Pia Picozza (Italy), ICKS (Italy), Pablo S. Herrero ( Spain), Milu Correch (Argentina), Bosoletti (Argentina).
Street Artist Alice Pasquini on the roof of Angevin Castle looking out across the rooftops of Civitacampomarano, Italy.
Street Art By Alice Pasquini In Civitacampomarano
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Since she was first invited to paint in Civitacampomarano in 2014, Alice Pasquini has continued to add new artworks on each subsequent visit.
Alongside two larger murals, Pasquini has added multiple smaller street pieces to the walls of the town with each new edition of the festival. I think we counted about 15+ smaller street artworks dotted around the side streets of the town. Many of these smaller works are painted on old wooden and rusty metal doorways of empty houses that are now derelict in the historic center.
For these smaller interventions, Pasquini drew inspiration from vintage photographs depicting the life of the town and the villagers, paying homage to the past of Civitacampomarano.
Close-up detail of one of the stencil works by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy on a rusty old metal door. The full artwork is pictured below.
For these smaller interventions, Pasquini drew inspiration from vintage photographs depicting the life of the town and the villagers, paying homage to the past of Civitacampomarano.
Close-up detail of one of the stencil works by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy on a rusty old metal door. The full artwork is pictured below.
Wider shot of the stencil piece pictured above and below for scale. A version of this by Pasquini's work was also painted on a wall in East London on Commercial Street and shared here on our Hookedblog Instagram at the start of 2020.
Close-up detail of the children of Civitacampomarano playing in this stencil piece by Alice Pasquini.
Close-up detail of one of the many street artworks by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy.
Pictured above is one of two larger mural works painted by Alice Pasquini in Civitacampomarano, Italy
Guided Street Art Tours of Civitacampomarano
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Local resident and president of the CivitArt Cultural Association, Barbara Manuele pictured above was kind enough to give us a guided tour around the abandoned part of the town during our first visit.During the tour, she shared stories with us about the history of Civitacampomarano, the festival, and some of the benefits it has brought to the town since its inception in 2016. She also helped us locate some of the smaller somewhat hidden street art pieces by Alice Pasquini painted in the semi-abandoned part of the town.
Organized 90 minutes tours are usually available as part of the four days of planned activities that take place as part of the annual festival, with local high school kids and locals guiding visitors around the village taking in all the street art from the previous festival editions. With some 7,000 people passing through the small town over the four-day festival period, you can imagine these tours are pretty popular with visitors.
Outside of the festival dates, tours can be booked via the CVTà Street Fest website once Covid restrictions have been lifted. A street art map has also been created of the town and includes all the street artworks and murals from 2016 - 2019. You can find the street art pdf map again on the CVTà Street Fest website here.
Here I am above pictured catching up with Alice Pasquini on the 'Twitter Bench' as captured by photographer Ian Cox aka Wallkandy at the 2018 edition of the festival.
The bench was created as part of WEB 0.0, a project by artist Biancoshock installed as part of the CVTA' Street Fest 2016 edition.
Works by Pasquini based on vintage photos depicting village life in Civitacampomarano, Italy.
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Close-up detail of this vibrant piece by Alice Pasquini.
Photographer Ian Cox taking a photo of one of Alice Pasquini's artworks on an old door in the uninhabited historic center of Civitacampomarano, Italy.
A visitor to the CVTà Street Fest stops to capture a photograph of one of Italian artist Alice Pasquini's works painted on the door of one of the empty properties in the abandoned part of the town.
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