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The Garraffo genius , also called Genius of Palermo at Garraffo , or in Sicilian Palermo u great (Palermo the Great), is a marble sculpture of the end of the fifteenth century, and is part of a sculptural group located in a 17th century newsstand, in the Piazzetta del Garraffo, in the Vucciria market, in Palermo.

The work, created by Pietro De Bonititi in 1483 is one of the seven main representations of the genius of Palermo, the ancient tutelary god and civic emblem of Palermo. The Sicilian appellation Big refers to the size of the statue compared to Palermo u Nicu , homologous and smaller representation, located in the Palazzo Praetorio (Palermo), town hall of Palermo.

The marble newsstand of the genius of Palermo at the Garraffo, paying in a state of degradation, in 2010 was reported by 2,495 people in the fifth edition of the census The places of the heart , promoted by Fai in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo. The restoration therefore started, on a project by the architect Rosalia Guzzo in the historic center sector, created with the collaboration of the Municipality of Palermo and the support of Intesa Sanpaolo. The works ended in March 2013.

The genius of Palermo is an ancient protector of pre-Roman origin, transformed over time into a secular protector of Palermo, is the personification of the city and the symbol of its inhabitants, of every origin or ethnic, cultural, religious and social belonging. ^{[first] [2]}

In the fifteenth century the jurors of Palermo adopted the image of the genius in their coat of arms. ^[3] In the same century, the Amalfi, Pisani, Genoese and Catalan merchants who resided in Palermo since the twelfth century and had their lodges in the Vucciria market, had now been assimilated to the Palermitans and wanted to pay homage to the city that had welcomed them. ^[4] They decided to adorn the Garraffo plan (Dallabo Garraf , abundant of water) with a fountain, which included five large bronze cannoli ^[5] , on which to place a statue of the genius of Palermo.
The realization of the sculpture was entrusted to Pietro De Bonititi, ^[6] which also made two other female allegories of abundance.

From the payment registers of the jurors of Palermo, it appears that in 1483 Pietro De Bonititi received the compensation for the work done. In all likelihood the works were completed by that date. ^[7]

In the second half of the seventeenth century, the fifteenth -century fountain of the genius of Palermo at Garraffo was dismantled and replaced by the Baroque Fontana del Garraffo, the work of Gioacchino Vitagliano.
The statue of the genius of Palermo was removed from the center of the Piazzetta del Garraffo and rearranged on a warden newsstand, the work of Paolo Amato. According to some sources, the construction of the investigation dates back to 1698, ^[3] But on the marble plate that dominates it, the date 1663 in Roman numerals (MDCLXIII) is engraved.

For its dimensions that little harmonized with the reduced space of the Plan of the Garraffo , in 1862 the Garraffo Fontana was moved to Piazza Marina. The genius and newsstand remained, but the Piazzetta del Garraffo no longer had a fountain.

Since the end of the twentieth century, the sculptural group of the Palermo genius at the Garraffo in serious conditions of degradation. ^[8]

Starting in 1980, the statues of the holes placed in the lateral niches of the investigation were first damaged and then stolen. ^[9] In 1985, the lateral friezes and coats of arms of the city and neighborhoods were still present, placed on the bottom and the high of the investigation. ^[ten] They were stolen later.

In 2009, Fai started an awareness campaign for the protection of the genius of the Garraffo, and a fundraising for the restoration of the monument. ^{[5] [11]} The monument had been reported in the fifth census that Fai had made on “The places of the heart”.
In December of the same year, the Sicilian region inserted the genius of the Garraffo in the Regional card of the places of identity and memory Sicilian (8410/2009). ^[twelfth]

In 2010 the artist Fabrice De Nola created a painting on the genius of the Garraffo, depicted as a digital mosaic of Pixel. On the right side of the painting there is a large QR code that contains a connection for cell phones to the mobile wikipedia page on the genius of Palermo. The work was exposed to the novitiate of the crucifers. ^[13]

The sculpture (1483) in Carrara marble is placed in the central niche of a wall newsstand (1663), on the western front of the square, in the middle of the Argenteria via, in the heart of the old Vucciria market.
The genius of Palermo is the ancient genius , protective deity of the city, depicted like a man with a long beard with a ducal crown on his head. The god holds a snake in his arms that bites the chest from which he feeds, and is sitting on a seat on which an eagle is carved, coat of arms of Palermo.

As described by Bellafiore, ^[14] Until 1980 in the lateral niches there were the sculptures of two Sante Palermitan, and on the slut, in bas -relief, the coats of arms of the four mandates with the Coat of arms of Palermo at the center: Kalsa, with the pink; Albergheria with the biscia, the head with Hercules and the loggia with the Austrian effigy. Two other coats of arms were at the top.

Disambigua of names [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The genius of the Garraffo is called in Sicilian Palermo u great ( Palermo the great ) related to Palermo Low ( Palermo the little one ), another similar statue located in the Town Hall of Palermo.

It is not to be confused with the Garraffo Fountain, first in this square, nor with the Garraffello Fontana, located nearby.

• Giuseppe Bellafiore, Palermo. Guide of the city and surroundings , Palermo, 1980/1986 ^{[ without source ]} .
• Marcello Fagiolo, Maria Luisa Madonna, The theater of the sun . Rome, 1981.
• Giuseppe La Monica, Sicily Mysterica . Palermo, Flaccovio Editore, 1982, pp 145. Redemption 2010, ISBN 978-88-7804-481-4
• Vincenzo Di Giovanni, Restored Palermo , Palermo, Sellerio Editore, 1989. ISBN 88-389-0591-6
• Maria Concetta Gulisano, The genius of the Garraffo: a documented work by Pietro De Bonititi . For n ° 5. Ed. Save Palermo, 2003.