Bronte's City/Monuments - Nelson Ducea, the sculpture museum

THE NELSON DUCEA

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Nelson's Castle

Sculpture Museum

Gli artisti partecipanti al Simposio di scultura In front of the Dukedom Nelson entry there is a luxuriant park, divided by a central avenue which, in the middle of centuries-old plane trees and the eucalyptus (the first introduced in Sicily), and a museum of sculptures in lava stone exposed in the open.

The sculptures were directly realized in the park, from September 27 to October 7 of 1990, in opportunity of an International Sculpture Symposium having for theme "The Freedom", developed they in the premises of the Nelson Castello.

Tenacious author of the initiative, sponsored from the Province and the Council, the brontese Prof. Nunzio Sciavarrello what he made use of the cooperation of the Ce.p.i.s. and of the Institute for the Culture and the Art of Catania.

The symposium had "the purpose to constitute the initial core of the only outdoor museum of modern sculpture in Sicily" and of "supporting the revival of the stone cutters handicrafts who had left signs and forms of extraordinary beauty in the old city center" (sen. Pino Firrarello, president of the organizing committee).

Under the careful eye of the numerous visitors, during the ten days of the symposium, sculptures were realized from big blocks of lava stone transported from the quarries of Nicolosi, Belpasso and Bronte, directly on the lawns to the rich park vegetation, true open air laboratory.

The outdoor museum, in the green of the brontese flora and with the sculpted works obtained with stone of our volcano, is open to public and is of great interest to visits by scholars, students, cultural and tourist operators.

In the photos, some moments of the "International Sculpture Symposium", views of the Park in front of the Nelson Castle and one of the sculptures in lava stone of the outdoor museum: The "Stair of columns" or "Tribute to the moon" of sculptress Zoè De L'Isle Whittier. Among the general indifference it was partially destroyed by the usual vandals: it lacks the first "step" and the last two were broken.

On the last column (the highest) the French artist had positioned a crescent (half moon) in white marble.

It was constituted by a group of big lava prisms of varied height, on the last column (the highest) a half moon made of white Carrara marble was put.

The sculpture is placed alongside the central avenue of the park.

Since May 2004 the museum was enriched further. Another exposition was prepared inside the castle: “The lava stone, artisan and agricultural traditions of Etna’s museum”, where are also placed some sculptures originally exposed outside, as the delicate “Butterfly” of polished basalt made by Giuseppe Pravato.

Changing the former collocation, the sculptures in May 2004, have been placed again according to a new exhibition arrangement emphasized by an opportune lighting for nocturnal vision. Some works (for instance the “Butterfly” in polished basalt by Giuseppe Private), was placed inside the new “lava stone, artisan and agricultural traditions of Etna’s Museum” opened the same month.
The French sculptress Zoè De L'Isle Whittier and the Peruvian sculptor Meliton Rivera Espinoza (to right).

Simon Benetton
Giovanni Migliara
Among the 19 works realized there are sculptures by successful and well known Italian and foreign artists.
Realized their work the Italian artists Simon Benetton (Venetian), Raffaele Biolchini and Domenico Difilippo, Nello Bocci, Antonio Portale (from Randazzo) and the Sicilians Gaetano Arrigo, Giovanni Migliara, Gianni Pasotti, and Giuseppe Pravato.
The international artists who took part to the Symposium were Pablo Atchugarry (Uruguay), Miguel Ausili (Argentina), the American David Campbell, Toshihiko Minamoto (Japan), Nèlida Mendoza (Paraguay), the Peruvian Meliton Rivera Espinoza, Zoè De L'Isle Whittier (France), David Jacobson (United Kingdom), Heidi Locher (Swiss), and the Dutch Karin Van Omeren.
The "Homage to the moon" by the French sculptress Zoè De L'Isle Whittier.

Three sculptures of the open-air museum

The winged sculpture of the Uruguayan Paolo Atchugarry:

"Dynamics and snappy, furrowed by violent signs that determine a strong and strong light and dark, is the sculpture of Pablo Atchugarry.

The young Uruguayan artist left on the strong structure of the lava basalt material effects that show his particular interest for the troubled surfaces, for the articulated volumes.

The dark matter of the stone suggested the creation of a winged sculpture that looks for the possibility of shooting in the light and the energy to move the flight. » (Paolo Giansiracusa)

Sculpture by David P. Campbell (United States).

The American artist has modeled a large lava block and, respecting the plastic and chromatic balance of the original material, has created a sculpture full of tension and strength, dedicated to Etna.

«... He carved a large column of lava looking in the folds and along the surfaces of the matter now soft chiaroscuro passages now signs and colors generated by the fire.

The imposing volume, ... is crossed in full by a material treatment that translates the emotion experienced by the artist in front of the structural and formal balances of the basaltic block.»

Balanced and impressive is the sculpture of the Peruvian Meliton Rivera Espinoza.

For the outdoor sculpture museum the Peruvian artist has created a large, balanced and imposing sculpture, inspired by the mythological models of the pre-colombian culture of South America.
«The lava mass, closed by the rigorous line of an imaginative bird, is marked in large parts by a material treatment that reveals the sensitivity of the artist. Erotic symbols and engravings linked to the innermost values of the author's spirituality mark the imposing basalt column in some places »

Some history of: Horatio Nelson The Maniace Abbey

Translated by Sam Di Bella
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