Banksy, in Assisi and Near Orvieto

Mysterious artist Banksy will reign in Assisi until early November at an exhibition in our Papal fortress, the 14th-c. Rocca Maggiore:

But how astonishing to recently discover works inspired by Banksy in the tiny village of Sugano (population about 75) just outside of Orvieto! I recognized “Girl with a Balloon” on the pink stucco wall of a Sugano home:

Strolling Sugano, our son Keegan told us that the whimsical wrought-iron works on the Sugano walls were created (as hobby) by a local man, Fernando, a retired civic employee. A few days after our Sugano visit, I called Fernando and asked him about his “Banksy inspiration.” He told me, “Banksy is famous and so are his works. For me, it was gratifying and a challenge to reproduce in iron what he had done with mastery in painting.”

Keegan pointed out another of Fernando’s Banksy works to me while we were in Sugano together, “The Flower Thrower”:

A bouquet of flowers figures in another Fernando creation:

Charming other wrought-iron works of Fernando animate the walls of Sugano and many a wrought-iron surprise greets you in a winding alleyway, near a door, above a staircase:

When I spoke to Fernando, he told me that the woman at the window was an image “caratteristica dei piccoli paesi” (“characteristic of the small towns”).

Fernando told me that his wrought-iron image of the man splittting a log “e’sulla casa di un boscaiolo” (“is on the house of a lumberjack”):

Fernando’s creation of a woman holding out a shopping bag over a bottle of milk and other goods is “dedicato ad una bottegaia storica del paese” (“dedicated to a long-remembered shopkeeper of the town”):

Donna Ignuda (“The Naked Lady”), a beloved sculpture on a wall in Siena, inspired Fernando’s wrought-iron creation of a similar image on the stuccoed wall of a Sugano home:

….and even the butcher shop’s sign is a playful Fernando creation:

Across the street from the one small cafe in Sugano, a speeding car tops the door for inside, as Fernando told me, is a collection of vintage cars:

It’s always right in front of us as we enjoy caffe’:

….and on a wall near the cafe’, a Fernando creation climbs a wall. A small bird perches on a vine in the midst of the dangling bunches of grapes:

…..and a rose bush adorns another wall. Fernando gems all over Sugano…

Down the street – on the stuccoed orange wall of a house – a hiker, accompanied by dog and cat, treks on a road below Orvieto heading to San Quirico

All over Sugano, the wrought-iron work of local artisans is to be noted: on stairways, balconies, windows, doorways, as well as in the fill-in creations of the basalt arches above the doorways :

You won’t want to miss a walk through Sugano, charm and enticements in every winding alleyway:

And as you leave, look back up at the arched loggia over the entryway to Sugano with the inscription, “Maria blesses whoever enters, protects whoever leaves and gives peace to whoever stays.”