Street Art Silos

In the heart of the Port of Catania, overlooking the sea and forming an integral part of the city's skyline, the historic grain silos have become one of Europe's largest works of street art and a contemporary symbol of the city.

Built in the 1960s for the storage of grain, the eight silos were transformed in 2015 thanks to the Street Art Silos project, which involved some of the most prominent Italian and international artists. Their works reinterpret myths, figures and symbols linked to the history and identity of Sicily and Catania.

However, it is above all on the side facing the sea that the silos take on an extraordinary dimension. Here, the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, known by his pseudonym Vhils, has created an imposing human portrait covering some 2,000 square metres: a gigantic face gazing towards the horizon, towards the East.

It has been described as 'the greatest view of the sea': a simple yet powerful image that seems to follow with its gaze those arriving at and departing from the port of Catania. But that face also represents something deeper: a gaze directed towards the lands of the Mediterranean, towards those peoples and cultures which, over the centuries, have helped to shape Sicily's identity. Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and the other shores of the Mediterranean thus become part of an ideological cultural bridge linking Catania to the rest of the world.

For those arriving in Catania by sea, the large face on the silos is therefore much more than a work of art: it is a sign of welcome, a landmark and an invitation to look beyond the horizon.

An installation that transforms an industrial structure into a contemporary monument and which, even today, uses art to tell the story of the deep connection between Catania, its port and the Mediterranean.