Birthplace of the painter Amorelli
From the curiosity for art within the walls of his home to international exhibitions
His interest in art began right in the living room of this house, as he admired the portraits of his ancestors, which, as he wrote in his diary, evoked "a mix of fear and curiosity." Against his father's wishes, who wanted him to pursue classical studies, he enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo, then known as the Royal Institute of Fine Arts, in 1913 with the support of his uncle. There, he was trained under the guidance of renowned masters such as Ernesto Basile and Ettore De Maria Bergler. He was a student of the famous portraitist from Bagheria, Onofrio Tomaselli Sr., and the landscape painter Francesco Lojacono. He also taught at the State Institute of Art. After his military experience in the war, he returned to Palermo, and in 1924, together with Pippo Rizzo, the leading figure of Futurism in Sicily, Giovanni Varvaro, Manlio Giarrizzo, and other Palermo artists, he founded the "Independent Sicilian Artists" group. From his debut in 1928 with a solo exhibition at the Micheli Gallery in Milan, he participated in all the major exhibitions of the period in Italy—including several Venice Biennales—and abroad (Rome Quadrennials, New York, Barcelona, Birmingham, and Athens). He was invited to Berlin and the Universal Exposition in Paris, and he exhibited in Munich. In 1940, he was awarded a solo room at the 22nd Venice Biennale.
The Birthplace of the painter Alfonso Amorelli
We are at the house where Alfonso Amorelli spent much of his childhood. Amorelli was a painter, sculptor, decorator, set designer, and fresco artist with a Futurist influence, active in the first half of the 20th century. He was a descendant of a historic Sambucese family of counts palatine (one of the most illustrious titles of the High Middle Ages). Alfonso was the sixth child of Giuseppe Amorelli, a lawyer, and Maria Teresa Raimondi, of noble origins. He grew up in a culturally stimulating environment; his father was also a poet and playwright, and his mother was a skilled pianist.
The creative heritage of an eclectic artist
His are the frescoes, now significantly deteriorated, created in the 1930s in Palermo's Galleria delle Vittorie on Via Maqueda (1936): the inscription "Galleria delle Vittorie" prominently displayed on the arch of each entrance side, and the Futurist-themed frescoes depicting men performing heroic acts to celebrate the end of World War I and the Italo-Ethiopian War. He also signed the frescoed scenes in the Aula Magna and the Rector's Hall of the University of Palermo (1937), now home to the Department of Law, as well as those in the Aula Magna of the old building of the Liceo Classico "Gregorio Ugdulena" in Termini Imerese (irreparably damaged during the modernization of the electrical system). Amorelli's work includes the decorations of the Hippodrome and the Extrabar Olimpia on Via Ruggero Settimo in Palermo (recently destroyed), the bar of the Albergo Mediterraneo, and many other residential buildings. As a versatile artist, he frescoed churches and the municipal delegation offices of Sicilian rural villages, designed by architect Luigi Epifanio (1941). From 1954 to 1968, he collaborated with the INDA (National Institute of Ancient Drama) in Syracuse, designing sets, sketches, and posters. For the Mediterranean Fair in Palermo, he created a fountain with tritons, sirens, and sea monsters (1959) and the panel "The Flight of Icarus" (1964). His works are exhibited in Italy, at the Modern Art Gallery in Hanover (Germany), Falkenberg (Sweden), and in private collections in Germany, England, Spain, and the United States. In his honor, the Amorelli Room at Palazzo Greco—the headquarters of the Institute of Ancient Drama (I.N.D.A.)—in Syracuse, and streets in Palermo and Sambuca di Sicilia, have been named after him. Additionally, numerous articles, monographs, catalogues, retrospective exhibitions, and general works have been dedicated to him.
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The evolution of a fascinating stylistic path
Initially, Amorelli's confident brushstrokes gave life to classic compositions with almost monumental figures, predominantly warm color tones, and plays of light and shadow in rarefied atmospheres. Over time, he became attracted to scenes of everyday life, depicted with increasingly fleeting brushstrokes. These strokes became less focused on details and more oriented toward capturing the immediate perception of the moment. He simplified his subjects, composed of fleeting and fragmented brushstrokes, with figures returning to a primordial state, resembling prehistoric cave paintings in some works. In the 1940s, due to wartime bombings, he moved to Rome with his wife, Herta Schaeffer—a German noblewoman who would establish herself as an abstract painter in Sicily. During this period, Amorelli painted portraits characterized by a strong psychological depth. Upon returning to Palermo in 1947, the colors in his works became more subdued, and his output was prolific, with a particular fondness for dance scenes, which, with their movements, suited the fleeting nature of his brushstrokes. In the 1950s, he reinvented himself as a book illustrator. Drawing on his experience in illustration and the immediacy of language inherent in mural painting typical of popular culture, he revisited some of his themes from the 1930s with a more ironic and narrative twist. In the 1960s, Amorelli's artistic exploration reached its zenith. During this period, he studied the relationship between figure and background; color became even more significant and autonomous in expression, with figures receding to the background, almost reduced to minimal traces of elemental forms, capturing the moment in time. His work is marked by irony, lightness, and immediacy, reflecting a desire to follow a distinctly personal path, a love for Sicily, and a curiosity for new experiences.
A personal style that drew from the international cultural trends of the time
Despite his association with Pippo Rizzo, Amorelli did not fully adhere to Futurism. He leaned towards the Novecento movement but maintained a unique and distinctive style. His works focus on everyday life, capturing its simplicity without ignoring its inherent tragedy. He uses his brush like a camera lens, simplifying images and capturing the essence of life’s fleeting moments. With visible and distinguishable brushstrokes, he creates contrasting juxtapositions of light and shadow. These are enhanced by bold color combinations, creating atmospheres that are surreal and almost magical, reminiscent of Cézanne, Matisse, Dufy, Chagall, and German artists like Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Amorelli became familiar with these styles and personalities through interactions with international artists and movements, absorbing and reworking them to suit his unique expressive needs.
The Birthplace of painter Amorelli among the Places of Identity and Memory (LIM)
The birthplace of painter Amorelli in Sambuca has been included by the Sicilian Region among the LIM (Places of Identity and Memory) in the section dedicated to places of historical personalities and architectural and figurative artistic culture. This is a heritage of immense importance, subject to a valorization project, providing an opportunity to define development strategies for the community that hosts it.
