Santa Nastro

History inside a shoebox. In L’Aquila it is time for ‘Perdonanza Celestiana’: and so even Art remembers Pope Celestine V “he who made the great refusal”… 

Since 1294, year in which Pope Celestine V granted plenary indulgence to anyone, the ‘Perdonanza Celestiana’ religious celebration is held in L’Aquila every year on the 28^th and 29^th August by means of an intense and evocative procession leading to the Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio and its Holy Door. This year it becomes subject of a contemporary art exhibition named ‘Barefoot’ run by Roberto and Valentina Gramiccia and promoted by the ‘Associazione Amici dei Musei d’Abruzzo’. The artists who took part naming only a few: Claudio Adami, Giovanni Albanese, Nanni Balestrini, Bruno Ceccobelli, Gianni Dessì, H.H. Lim, Valerio Pisano, Pizzi Cannella and Renato Mambor, were all protagonists of an original idea which unites contemporary research into the reflection on the traditions of the territory and starts from a common theme or rather a common object: an empty shoebox or to be precise 50 identical empty shoeboxes. Each artist interpreted, revised, analyzed and deconstructed it at will and pleasure. The official opening of the exhibition is on the 24^th August at 5pm in Corso Federico II, L’Aquila and will be open until 10^th September.