An open-air museum dedicated to urban art was inaugurated today in Pisa. It is the result of projects curated by Gian Guido Grassi in synergy with leading regional and city institutions, with the involvement of more than 20 international artists.

Four thousand square metres of painted surfaces, 15 authors, 25 diffuse works: the largest open-air museum dedicated to urban art in Italy is in Pisa. In the city that has hosted Keith Haring and houses his last mural - Tuttomondo - a new generation of artists has, over time, created a series of works spread across the city centre, the Darsena and the Porta a Mare district. A complex and long lasting intervention, which has relied from the beginning on the direction of the Start Attitude association and its founder Gian Guido Grassi, with the support of the Council of the Region of Tuscany, the Province and Municipality of Pisa, the Pisa Foundation and the Palazzo Blu Foundation.

With the completion of the murals curated by Etnik and Zed1 at the Pisa Hydraulic Police Depot, part of the first edition of the Festival della Strada (visited by 30,000 people between October 2023 and January 2024) and of a large urban regeneration project supported by the Council of the Region of Tuscany, a new itinerary is now presented, to be travelled on foot or by bicycle, to get to know the past and present of the city of the Leaning Tower and of a constantly evolving art form, to which high-level museums and cultural institutions have recently opened their doors.

THE ITINERARY. Today, the open-air museum winds its way from Kobra's mural in Via Silvio Pellico, on the outskirts of the historic centre and a few steps away from Keith Haring's Tuttomondo, to the Darsena, including the pylons of the Florence-Pisa-Livorno highway, which have become the subject of artistic interventions. The open-air museum of urban art in Pisa was also made possible thanks to technical sponsors such as Renato Lupetti and Caparol, and has always been able to count on the great involvement of citizens, starting with Coop Members and the Down Association, who also actively participated in the realisation of some works.

It all began in 2017 with the creation of the first cycle of murals in the Porta a Mare district, by some of Italy's most highly-rated street artists, called upon to repaint a district of Pisa where traces of its Maritime Republic soul can still be found. The international guest of that first edition was Gaia, author at the time of a large-scale work on the external walls of the Saint Gobain company, a multinational sustainable building giant with its headquarters in Pisa. Coordinating the operation was the young curator Gian Guido Grassi, who was able to catalyse artists such as Ozmo, Zed1, Etnik, Fra32, Aris, Moneyless, Tellas, Alberonero, Beast, Rusto, AEC Interesni Kazki, and IMOs in two years of the event (2017 and 2018).

The event took up the legacy of Keith Haring and Panico Totale, an event that in the 1990s had transformed itself from an underground gathering of streetartists into a rally for urban artists from all over the world. Consolidating this attitude, temporary exhibitions and live painting events marked some of the most important city festivals, including some editions of the Internet Festival. Up to the collective Attitude (11 December 2021-3 April 2022), an exhibition that involved around 50 of the most interesting contemporary urban artists, bringing different types of works from the street to the palace: in this case, Palazzo Blu, one of the most important art centres in Italy. The exhibition accompanied and to some extent looked beyond the retrospective dedicated to Keith Haring in the same period.

At the end of 2023, the first edition of the Festival della Strada took place between the rooms of Palazzo Blu, the Church of Santa Maria della Spina and the street, where the artists involved each found their own 'canvas'. Kobra - a celebrity in Brazil, known the world over for his large, brightly coloured works and social themes - created one of the largest murals in Italy on the Maccarrone Centre, inspired by Galileo Galilei's discoveries and Pisa's character as a city of science, innovation, an outpost for exploration (by sea and sky). Moneyless, Etnik, Zed1, Aris, Gio Pistone, Massimo Sospetto - involved in the festival together with the Portuguese Gonzalo Borondo and the pioneer of muralist abstractionism in Italy 108 - added prestigious pieces to the collection of murals in the Porta a Mare district. The itinerary also ideally embraces the neighbouring municipality of Vecchiano, where the Roman artist Gio Pistone has transformed a playground into a work of art, as part of a project supported by the Council of the Region of Tuscany and the Municipality of Vecchiano, with the involvement of UMMA Playground.

LIST OF WORKS.

1. Author: Gaia (Andrew Pisacane); title: Re-Nasci; year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, 1st edition; location: via Ponte a Piglieri; building: Saint Gobain factory

2. Author: Moneyless (Teo Pirisi); title: Pisa 01; year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: via Conte Fazio Building: water police depot

3. Author: Alberonero (Luca Boffi); title: Arno 30 toni; year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: lungarno San Giovanni al Gatano Building: Water Police depot

4. Author: Tellas (Fabio Schirru); title: River stories; year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: via Conte Fazio Building: building owned by the parish (Cinema Arno and Shaker bar)

5. Author: Ozmo (Gionata Gesi); title: Portrait of Galileo; year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: via Conte Fazio Building: private home

6. Authors: BEAST, IMOS, 2OLD; title: BEAST, IMOS, 2OLD; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: via Conte Fazio Building: inside wall of the Homeless Centre

7. Author: Aris; title: Untitled; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: via Conte Fazio; building: internal boundary wall of Biagi Primary School

8. Author: Aris; title: Untitled; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition location: via Conte Fazio; building: outer boundary wall of the Istituto per l'Infanzia Bel trami

9. Author: AEC Interesni Kazki; title: Cavalieri&Saraceni; year: 2018; Event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: via di Porta a Mare Building: private house

10. Author: Gaia (Andrew Pisacane); title: Article 21 Year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

11. Author: Moneyless (Teo Pirisi); title: Pisa 02 Year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

12. Author: Alberonero (Luca Boffi); title: Onda 42 toni Year: 2017; event: stART Festival -Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated bridge

13. Author: Tellas (Fabio Schirru); title: White Year: 2017; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

14. Author: Ozmo (Gionata Gesi); title: Mare Anno: 2017manifestation: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, I edizione luogo: Darsena Pisana Edificio: pilone della sopraelevata SGC FI-Pi-Li

15. Author: IMOS; title: Poetics and Aesthetics of a Subversive Action; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, 2nd edition location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

16. Author: BEAST; title: BEAST; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

17. Author: King Rusto; title: LETTEKING Year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

18. Author: FRA32; title: FRA32; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated bridge

19. Author: Aris; title: Untitled; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, 2nd edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

20. Author: Aris; title: Untitled; year: 2018; event: stART Festival - Welcome to Pisa, II edition; location: Darsena Pisana Building: pylon of the SGC FI-Pi-Li elevated train station

21. Author: Kobra; title: Connessioni - Galileo Galieli; year: 2024; event: Festival della Strada I edition; location: Via Silvio Pellico; building: "La Stecca", Centro Maccarrone

22. Author: Zed1 (Marco Burresi); title: The Enigmas of the Heart; year: 2024; event: Festival della Strada I edition; location: Via Conte Fazio; building: private house

23. Author: Etnik (Alessandro Battisti); title: Urban texture; year: 2024; event: Festival della Strada I edition; location: Lungarno San Giovanni al Gatano; building: Water Police depot

24. Author: Zed1 (Marco Burresi); title: Antiche tradizioni - il Gioco del Ponte; year: 2024; event: Festival della Strada I edition; location: lungarno San Giovanni al Gatano; building: Water Police depot