Street art characterizes some small villages around Lake Orta, communities with walls painted with frescoes of great emotional impact.
In the beginning it was Legro, a pretty fraction of Orta, which gave over its walls to artistic decoration. And after twenty years, the frescoes on the facades of the buildings are still there, enriched by many other beautiful paintings. If the Milan Gucci Art Wall is a trend (huge urban canvases stand out in the central Via Garibaldi), in our parts, instead, are murals linked to the theme of cinema to attract many tourists, creating an interesting union between art and territory.
Yes, because Legro's «Muri d’autore» is an opportunity to celebrate Italian cinema, starting with the films that were shot right here on the shores of lake Orta: from animated films inspired by the stories of Gianni Rodari to beautiful "Bitter Rice" (nominated for an Oscar in 1951) up to a scandalous film like "The Bishop's Room" through "Farewell to Arms" with Rock Hudson and Vittorio De Sica.
A true open-air art gallery that enriches a collection of the oldest paintings belonging to the tradition of local wall art, made up of devotional paintings and marvelous solar sundials.
And if Legro was a pioneer of the Cusian masonry, even Pogno and Quarna Sopra, small and delightful villages not far from La Darbia, joined the circuit of «painted villages» which now includes more than three hundred municipalities in Italy.
At Quarna, young artists of the Ravenna Academy of Fine Arts have created a path with ten murals inspired by the local history and the musical vocation of this land. A real "Festival of the painted wall" is held every summer (this year it is scheduled to take place between July 29th and August 4th, make a note of it!) And gathers authors who make their works live.
The theme chosen for the Pogno frescoes is instead that of water, a precious resource and symbol of the industrial district of the tap. It is precisely the case to say this: a fresh and imaginative production, full of creativity and irony has left its mark on the walls of the houses. On the other hand, if urban art once represented a transgression, a method of social protest and civil denunciation, today the beauty of the murals also serves to re-evaluate the degraded suburbs and restore life to the historic centers of the small villages, creating artistic paths of great beauty.
