URBAN RENEWAL #1 - Gaeta, Italy - How the street art is transforming the old city

How I discovered Memorie Urbane, an Italian street art festival

Last year during my trip in South America with Imma, my girlfriend, we met a lot of street artists, mainly from Sao Paolo in Brazil. We spent few days in the city and we interviewed few of them such as Paulo Ito, Michel Onguer and Apolo Torres. We discovered that in Italy there is a really important street art festival called Memorie Urbane. We felt a little bit ashamed admitting that both of us never heard about that before.  Now we can say that it has been an amazing discovery and as we came back to Italy we immediately remedied. We took my car and we spent few days hanging around all the cities that participate at the festival.

a view of the historical center on Gaeta

It started in the city of Gaeta, which is a small city on the Gulf of Gaeta and now has spread in all the surrounding areas. The idea of the project was of the curator Davide Rossillo. He began this project in 2011 with the aim of a urban renewal through the contemporary art and the street art. Nowadays it can be considered as the most important permanent contemporary art Italian "exposition". It counts more than 190 murales, in 13 cities with the intervention of more than 120 artists who came from all over the world.

one of the murales

an old man watching the match of his favorite team

that's what he was watching

We decided to rent a bike and we couldn't take a better choice. It is the best way to enjoy the city and to see in the same day all the artworks and murales. These are spread all over the town in different neighbors. In our case we have been lucky as the bnb we rented had bicycles available for the guests. In case you decide to go to Gaeta we suggest you to move in this way.

Italian tourism is growing so quickly that it is really hard to rule the flows. Investing on art is the best policy to create a sustainable form of tourism. It gives you the opportunity to choose your specific target and reach a traveler more sensitive who would love to know a community deeper and its identity.

Gaeta is also well known for beaches and nature. There is the possibility to hike up on the mountain and enjoy an amazing view over the old city. In that case we reached an old church over a cliff with the car and then we walked a long for rural paths. I remember that we followed a particular wrote itinerary that taught us all the different wild mediterranean grasses and the authentic flora.

Imma lost into the environment

Me

The view of the old city

What is happening in Gaeta and the surrounding areas is an important process even if it is always a delicate issue when the art is placed in public spaces. It is important to consider always the identity of the environment and respect it through the art.