“I tried to go to Sicily with very few expectations, to not be disappointed. Obviously I expected to discover a place full of history, not the pretty fairy tales kind, but the gritty, heavy history of Sicily. Catania was the first surprise. I knew very little about this harbor city and I found a city filled with a beautiful decay. It's a mix of history, monuments, statues and dark alleys. Because of the harbor it feels like a place where different kinds of people pass by, each with their own influences.

The most unforgettable moment was the trip I made to Corleone. It was so much more than I expected. Since Corleone is the birthplace of the Cosa Nostra, I was afraid it would be a little town overrun by Godfather merchandising. But there was nearly no trace of it. It is honestly a very typical village albeit with a very dark past. Corleone is also home of CIDMA, the Mafia and Anti-Mafia museum. Somehow I could feel the weight of the Cosa Nostra and the Omerta in this town, but it's something I can't really explain.

I used my own visual references I picked up along the way. I tried to explore the heavy heritage of Sicily through the visual references I found alongside the beautiful decay of the island. A combination that makes this place unique.”

Travel diary

Friday, November 20, 2015

GOING TO SICILY.

Getting ready to fly in a few hours to Catania, Sicily for The Jaunt and this is what i have in my luggage.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Ciao Catania! Arriving at night to a city i know almost nothing about is weird… I wondered in dark alleys, amazed by the beautiful decay allover…looks promising! Can’t wait for tomorrow…

Sunday, November 22, 2015

BUON GIORNO!
Nothing beats the smell of roasted peppers early in the morning…

CHECK YOUR HEAD.
beautiful decay / Catania

PERICOLO DI MORTE.
Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily

NOLI OFFENDERE.
Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily

DARK HISTORY.
Flea market findings / Catania, Sicily.

LOOT.
Flea market purchases / Catania, Sicily

Monday, November 23, 2015

STREET POETRY.
Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily.

“F**ck you Todd, give me back the lunchbox!”

Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily

BEHIND ENEMY LINES.

Circumetnea train line / Catania, Sicily.

So I took this photo, being a train obsessed graffiti background artist I just love these old train models, got pretty carried away with it… I know this because after taking it, I was chilling on a bench reading a book waiting for my train, when I got approached by a “take no prisioners” looking engine driver who just told me in Italian:
“If you are a graffiti writer just forget about it…we control this at night, cameras and security, not a good idea!”

Hahaha this brought back good old memories…would I forget about it?

NO CHILL.

Circumetnea train line / Catania, Sicily.

POST MORTEM.

Circumetnea train line / Catania, Sicily.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

HIDDING IN THE BUSHES.

Today i wanted to leave my mark in Catania, so i found a quiet and peaceful abandoned block, made friends with 2 cool stray dogs and just played with some spray cans! This is my kind of day…

Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily.

NAP TIME.

Part of the fun is finding a nice spot to paint…easy to climb, quiet and peaceful, abandoned and decaying and of course, with a single bed just in case i need to chill a bit.
Took me a while to find the perfect spot, no wifi in most b&b’s in the area…

Beautiful decay / Catania, Sicily.

ALL EYES ON ME.

Vhils massive silos painting / Catania port, Sicily.

So i said goodbye to Giorgio and Armani (my stray dog buddies) and decided to go check the massive paintings at the Catania Silos…when i looked at Vhils piece i felt so small hahaha. This dude painted this in 3 days, just a few weeks ago, i was looking forward to see it, but i was not prepared for this. Speechless, you sir, kick ass.

NO SEEING EYE.

Aec (Interezni Kazki) massive painting at the Port silos / Catania, Sicily.

I stared at this piece for at least half an hour…
I’ve been painting some murals all around lately, but it still amazes me how these guys are able to paint in this scale with such detail and skill. And the subjects are always so good, i’m a huge fan of these fellows, and now, of this silos project!

GO BIG OR…

Silos project / Catania, Sicily.

Damn this is impressive. Even more from up close. Never ceases to amaze me.

Friday, November 27, 2015

CORLEONE.

This is why i chose the trip to Sicily… One of the top things on my bucket list is done and it did not disappoint. The birthplace of Cosa Nostra, Mafia, the unspoken word, omertà. I am a happy man.

MAFIA NEST / CORLEONE.

Well, for tou to understand how big this is for me, i should start with the opening line from Goodfellas (yes i know, wrong movie, but bear with me) :
“As far back as i can remember, i always wanted to be a gangster…”

Yeah, the only problem, is that pretty soon with graffiti i understood i’m too unlucky to be a sucessfull crook, but the love for all things badass, crime underworld, secret codes, honour amoung thieves never died.

I think my obsession really started the first time i watched THE GODFATHER, it was love at first sight.
So today was a very happy day because Corleone apart from being my tag, my alias, Vito Andolini’s american name, is the birthplace of the Cosa Nostra, the Mafia.

It could just be my nerdy excitement or just my fertile imagination fueled by years of religiously watching and reading everything about Mafia, but i could feel the weight of this place, the mix between admiration and sadness for the tragic history of this way of life and how it affected everybody in this land.

OMERTÀ.

CORLEONE, Sicily.

It gave me goosebumps to feel the heavy history of this place, where just a few years ago the biggest Sicilian mafia boss was found hidden after 43 years escaping from the law.

DI CORLEONE.

One thing that kept happening today was my naive excitement seeing my alias written allover, I kept forgetting that it’s not a random hommage to my outstanding achievements in life but simply the name of the village, Corleone. “Get down of your high horse Pedro” my brain kept saying…

CORLEONE.

I kept asking myself…is the Cosa Nostra really gone from this village? Is there any mafioso hidding somewhere around here?

If there is, nobody is talking about it. OMERTÀ.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

COSA NOSTRA / CORLEONE

One of the highlights of this trip to Corleone was the visit to the CIDMA, the only museum dedicated exclusively to the history of Mafia, showing not the glamorous Hollywood like world of the Cosa Nostra but the true, gritty, violent and merciless reality of everybody affected by it. A punch in the stomach but i loved every minute of it…

FAMIGLIA.
CIDMA / Corleone, Sicily.

The purpose of this museum is not to glorify the Mafia, but show the birth of this underworld society, the rules, the reasons why it was created, but more important, to show the trail of violence it made, the victims who fought them and the Cosa Nostra demise in Corleone. It was super revealing and interesting to see the other side of the coin, fascinating stuff…

CIDMA / Corleone, Sicily.

The story behind this picture is the message the Mafia wanted to send. This man was found dead, with a stone in his mouth, a traditional Mafia symbol that he was a rat, he spoke about something he shouldn’t. At the funeral, the family was not allowed to remove the stone, the message had to be understood, so the only thing they could do was cover it.

CIDMA / Corleone, Sicily.

The beggining of the end for the Corleonese Mafia was when the Sicilian Justice department decided to bring them to trial. In one night they arrested 421 Mafiosi in the famous Maxi Trial. The Mafia fought back and the last drop was when they murdered the two judges in charge of the trial, with vicious car bombings that shocked the nation. How did they get the explosives? They paid fisherman to retrieve unactive bombs from World War II from the sea, which they then used to create the bombs…

CORLEONE, Sicily.

Seems pretty harmless right? This is the birthplace of some of the ruthless criminals in the history of Sicily. The Cosa Nostra nest.

Monday, November 30, 2015

PALERMO, Sicily.

Just before i left i was able to visit Palermo, beautiful city with a lot of imponent monuments, but what i really enjoyed was the dark alleys and small markets…

Food Market.
Palermo, Sicily.

The food…the food was one of the best things in Sicily, fresh pasta with simple ingredients, never fancy but always full of flavour! I think I have a few cooking tricks to try at home…

FINITO.

Every good thing must come to an end… This trip was one of the best projects i’ve been involved for some time, not just because I was able to travel to a place that was so iconic for me, but because all I was asked to do was to get inspired, so I did it my way… It’s an amazing feeling to be traveling with no pressure, no agenda, no obligations, no expectations.

I just walked a lot, using a map was cheating so i got lost in streets I knew nothing about, I took so many photos, ate so much good food, saw so many cool things, in the end I feel so inspired, got a lot of ideas, it is time to filter them and try to translate into a screenprint the amazing adventure I had in Sicily! Thank you Jeroen for sending me on this quest, it was mind opening to step out my confort zone and experience the mix of loneliness and excitement that was this trip!

Arriverderci!