Abruzzo is a wild and generous land with intense chiaroscuros. A land that gave birth to many great artists during the centuries

Boundless landscapes, coloured faces signed by life, deep faith, history, everything here is the perfect subject for an opera. Today, we would like to offer you a brief overview of the main attractions in the arts.

When walking along the galleries at the L’Aquila and Pescara museums, you will see many works from Medieval times, which is also the period that left its mark most deeply on this region. Triptychs of Saints and Madonnas, Nativities, Crucifixions, reveal the great number of studios and talents. The most significant examples of Medieval painting are not found inside a museum. We are talking about the Capestrano, Pianella and Bussi frescos and the Fossa, Bominaco, Ronzano, Loreto Aprutino, Castelvecchio Subequo and Atri cycles. Real jewels and intact pages of colour from the past. Among the most significant artists Andrea Delitio deserves a special mention for his complexity and originality. He was considered the divide between the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
During the Renaissance, the Abruzzo studios were influenced by other regions such as Tuscany and Campania. At the end of the 1400s the most important sculptor was Silvestro dell’Aquila that brought the softness of Florentine art to Abruzzo. In the art of goldsmiths, another artist whose skill has yet to be surpassed, is Nicola da Guardiagrele. Between the 1600s and 1700s, Abruzzo is affected by the conflicts and problems of the Kingdom of Naples whom it belonged to. Therefore art had difficulty in emerging albeit there were important works in architecture, in the monumental and sumptuous Baroque style. Of particular interest are the cities of Scanno, Pescocostanzo, L’Aquila and Penne, whose city planning systems were completely revisited.
Between the 1800s and the 1900s there was a great evolution and many artists became known on the national and international scene. Who hasn’t heard of Dante Gabriel Rossetti? He was the son of a poet from Abruzzo who emigrated to England and gave life to the Pre-Raphaelites, a unique and original current under the influence of European avant-garde movements. Many painters distinguished themselves in Italy like, for example, the naturalists and landscape painters Gabriele Smargiassi, Filippo Palizzi, Valerio Laccetti and Giuseppe Bonolis, who distinguished themselves for the elegance of their brushwork and subjects, and were influenced by French Impressionism. There are also artists that were more tied to popular religious themes like Francesco Paolo Michetti and the sculptor Paolo Barbella.
Among the more famous and fortunate artists in the 1900s, there is Basilio Cascella, painter, sculptor from Pescara, whose art was continued by his sons and grandsons Andrea and Pietro Cascella. Some of them are still in activity today.
So, what are you waiting for? Come and visit us and discover all our artistic beauties.