The Sicilian village of Gibellina was destroyed by an earthquake in 1968, but its ruins were to be reborn as a spectacular piece of land art.
20th-century artist Alberto Burri poured concrete over 926,000 square feet of hillside, freezing the streets and pathways for eternity, transforming this disaster site into a modern Pompeii, reported CNN.
This year, Gibellina is Italy’s first ever Capital of Contemporary Art and locals hope 2026 will strengthen the legacy of this “magical place.”
Visible for miles around, and originally a shocking white when it was completed in 2015, this is the “Cretto di Burri,” or the “Grande Cretto” (the great cleft, or crevice).
While other villages destroyed by the earthquake still stand in ruins, Gibellina is a town turned to stone.
It is, in essence, a modern version of Pompeii — a town trapped in time. But where the ancient Roman city was smothered by volcanic ash in 79, Gibellina has been covered as a way of preserving its memory for the ages.
The Cretto has also become a tourist attraction for inland Sicily. So has the new Gibellina, which was rebuilt half an hour away as a startlingly modernist town and then filled with art donated by some of the world’s best known contemporary artists.
Beginning at lunchtime on January 14, 1968, a series of tremors shook the valley, culminating in the final, and strongest, at 3.01 a.m. on January 15. It measured 6.4 on the Richter Scale — two levels from “total destruction” on the Mercalli Scale, which measures damage on the ground.
The quake hit 21 towns across three provinces of Sicily, but the worst affected were Gibellina, which was flattened in seconds, and its neighbors, Salaparuta and Poggioreale.
“If that had been the first tremor, there would have been many more dead, said Gibellina’s mayor, Salvatore Sutera, who was eight years old at the time. “Most people left during the day. Those who stayed at home were older people who didn’t believe there was danger.”
Across the Belice Valley, 296 people lost their lives. Over 1,000 were injured and nearly 100,000 were made homeless.
In 1968, the situation was far worse. Francesca Corrao, whose father was to be instrumental in transforming Gibellina, said authorities didn’t want to rebuild what was seen as a poor town. “They weren’t interested.”
Eventually, most of the affected villages were rebuilt close to their original locations.
