Eighty thousand square metres of white concrete and debris pay tribute to the town of Gibellina after it was razed to the ground by the devastating Belice earthquake
Alberto Burri's majestic work of land art silently dominates the surrounding landscape In 1968, a terrible earthquake shook the Belice Valley and destroyed entire towns, including Gibellina. Rebuilt just a few kilometres away, Gibellina soon became an important cultural hub thanks to the ambitious project of its mayor, Ludovico Corrao. To inspire and encourage the spiritual rebirth of the town and its surrounding district Corrao decided to rely on a powerful medium: art. To achieve this, he invited numerous artists to contribute to the reconstruction with an artwork.
Alberto Burri's encounter with this immense tragedy produced an unprecedented
work of land art. The artist decided to take the rubble of old Gibellina and to compact and reinforce it in order to create the immense memorial that dominates the entire valley. His "cretto" – which literally means cracked ground – represents both wounds in the earth and the labyrinthine paths evocative of the streets of the lost city.
Work on the Cretto, which began in 1985, was interrupted four years later: the artist, who died in 1995, would never see it completed. In the year of Burri's death, the surface occupied by the work was 60,000 square metres: it was finally completed in May 2015, almost thirty years after its conception.
Quick overview
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Opening days
Open daily
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Opening times
All day
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How to reach
By car:
From Palermo, take the Palermo-Mazara del Vallo motorway and exit at Gibellina. After 14 km take the turning to Alcamo and follow the signs for Gibellina Vecchia and Cretto di Burri
Suggested periods
- Autumn
- Carnival
- Event
- Spring
Visiting Rules
Basic rules:
All visitors are invited to observe the basic rules of respect for the preservation of nature
Covid 19 rules:
Visitors are requested to wear a mask in enclosed or heavily crowded areas and to maintain the safety distance indicated by the regulations in force