Antique Sicilian Cart, Era 1880's! This is hand painted in Taromina Italy! The Workmanship is very authentic to the Era.
This hand-painted cart tells many tales of History, before our time. Its authencity is genuine. You can't find a more depicted Cart that has so much detail.
You would find many Italian Carts similar, depicting different stories and eras' on them. This one is very symbolic.
Our family had purchased this from another Family Member back around 35 years ago.
Since family members are slowly passing away, we loose the stories they have told about the past. And, even then, the story behind this Italian Cart, has not been searched enough. But, as far as I can tell, the history and scenes on this Cart, have a story to tell, and I have researched online to find out the following information that would help describe the workmanship of these Carts.Again,You may contact me through PJ, through my email: [email protected] and this is My mothers Cart, that I am trying to sell for her.
Keeping Tradition Alive, Sometimes Untraditionally
If you want to opt for something a little more current in design, consider a hand painted L’ape, a dialect term for a small, three-wheeled utility vehicle with a pick-up truck type of bed used for commercial transport of small loads. Produced by the popular motorcycle manufacture, Piaggio & Co., in Pisa, Italy, the L’ape are frequently found painted in the traditional carretto way. (L’ape means “honey bee” in English. The L’ape was given the name because of its small size and ability to easily maneuver in and out of traffic.)
And, at least one (that we know of) three-wheeled motorcycle that regularly whizzes in and out of traffic in Catania has been converted into its own version of cart art. The owner doesn’t stop long enough to ask him who painted his art cart motorcycle, but from its appearance, it is a recent creation.
Will we see converted Ferrari, Bugatti, or Maserati Sicilian art cart in the future? Who knows? The tradition is certainly not dying off—it’s just taking on new canvases."
A Legend, Passing on a Tradition
The craft of making the carts is handed down from generation to generation through the training of both family and non-related apprentices.
Puglisi’s family cart art tree has other important branches. His cousin, a generation removed, Domenica DiMauro, who lives a short distance away in Aci Sant΄ Antonio, is considered the oldest living “maestro” of the Sicilian carretto. Now in his mid-90s, DiMauro has been a primary source of inspiration and mentorship to several generations of cart artists.
Petralia was one of DiMauro’s protégées. He says he was overwhelmed with inspiration by the master when he was a young child, and by age six, he was certain that his lifelong passion was to be a cart carver.
DiMauro’s studio is a simple, small, stone-walled alcove on a narrow via in the little village. But when he opens the huge wooden doors, all the colors on earth explode in one’s face. On most days he sits for hours, his pallet propped above the panel he is painting, using his full concentration on every intricate stroke of his brush. His jacket might some day be as highly valued as one of his carts. The elbow portion of its sleeves are layered millimeters thick in paint from him resting his arms on the wooden rod he uses to steady his hand as he makes each stroke.
His home is nearby, and is a pseudo museum of cart art. Panels, platters, bottles, vases, and trays of all sizes and shapes are displayed in every direction, and with every imaginable motif and depiction—including his cats.
DiMauro generally has at least one, and often more apprentices in his studio. He oversees their work, teaching them as progress continues on a cart. Most young protégés are students at Sicilian universities. Sicilian children are taught about the history of cart art in school, and several ultimately choose to carry on the tradition into their generation.
Puglisi is also highly responsible for helping to keep the history alive among Sicily’s youth. He frequently lectures at elementary and middle schools, or hosts field trips to his museum, inspiring children to help keep the tradition alive.
“Maestro DiMauro is a living legend,” says Francesco Guglielmino, a staff member at the popular tourism boutique, Gran Bazar Artigianato Siciliano, conveniently located in the Piazza Duomo in Catania—the most popular tourist destination in the city. “This cart,” he points to a miniature version about two-feet square, made sometime in the past decade, “is priced at €2,500.” Converted to U.S. dollars, the price is over $3,400.
People do occasionally buy the full size carts and have them shipped to their homes in other countries, but they usually buy the much smaller mass-produced versions. If they want something original, they typically purchase a panel section—which can range from €100 upward, depending on its size and the artist.
Adriana Zambonelli, owner of Artigianalmente, another tourist boutique about a block away from Piazza Duomo, concurs with Guglielmino. “This panel,” she demonstrates by holding it in front of her, “is priced at €400. It is an original, although it is not vintage or antique.”
There are a few serious collectors of original full sized carts, however, and the most notable is without question Michelangelo Constantino who resides in Tremestieri, a few kilometers south of Messina.
“Michelangelo's collection of approximately 100 carrettos is one of, if not the most extensive collections in the world,” says Petralia. “He owns a very special carved piece that was created by Ignazio Russo [1928-1980], known to most by the dialect name, Palichio, who is recognized as the greatest carving maestro in recent centuries.”
If you want the real thing in its full size—you’ll face some challenges. The first is to find one whose owner is willing to sell. If it’s a vintage painted piece, you can expect to pay the $12 million mentioned earlier. Carved carts made in the last decade or two are valued at upwards of $3 million. Painted carts take less time to complete, so are valued from $1 million or more. The price of either has much to do with the artist who created it, the depicted story, the amount of detail on the cart, and how good you are at negotiating.
Evolving from Necessity to Art
Although history does not reveal when Sicilian inhabitants first started painting and carving carts, existing pieces—panels, undercarriages, frames and other parts—suggest owners were decorating them as early as 1200 B.C.
In antiquity, the carts transported crops, wood, people, goods for trade and anything else that needed moved from one place to another. Following the Mare Morte (a dialect term refering to the great Messina earthquake of 1908), the carts were even used to transport the approximate 80,000 victims to their graves.
Consider the available time Sicilians had centuries ago. Without technological advances, and long seasonal periods between planting and harvesting fields, combined with an inherent competitive spirit and the renowned artistic Italian hand, it is little wonder that creating exquisite carts was a favored pastime.
“The tradition of painting carts began as a competition between neighbors,” said Domenico Puglisi, one of a long lineage of cart painters residing in San Gregorio, about mid way up the eastern slope of Mount Etna. He is also the president of Associazione Culturale Carretto Arte Sicilia (Association of Cultural Art Carts of Sicily), and the curator of the two-room museum connected to his home.
“One person would paint his cart with an historical tale, and his neighbor would attempt to out-do him by creating something more grand and elaborate,” he added. “Today, although Sicily is known for many culturally artistic items such as its famous ceramic majolica and puppet marionettes, it is most strongly associated with the painted carts.”
Nearly every souvenir shop in Sicily confirms Puglisi’s claim. Miniature carts in sizes ranging from a few inches to several feet long, mass-produced in either plastic or wood, consume the majority of shelf space. Cart art motifs including Mount Etna billowing ash, religious symbols, kings, famous fictionalized characters, such as Lola from Giovanni Verga’s "La Cavalleria Rusticana" (“Rustic Chivalry”), adorn plates, cups, and other souvenir-sized items.
An entire story is played out on the carts. The first scene might begin on the rear middle panel, and proceeding parts of the epic would adorn the remaining sections, circumventing the entire cart, with the saga ending on the last panel.
Numerous common themes have been depicted on the painted carts throughout history, but among the most popular, besides Verga’s, include the story of Saint Agatha, the patron saint of Catania, and the Sicilian Vespers. In the last century, a popular design tells the tale of Salvatore Giuliano (1922-1950), a Sicilian separatist (often compared to Robin Hood) who was mythologized during his lifetime and remains a legend today.
“Popular carved cart stories included the Siege of Jerusalem in the year 79 A.D.,” says Concetto (George) Petralia, a cart carver who was born in Aci Sant΄ Antonio, now living in Ontario, CA. “Verdi’s ‘Otello,’ an opera in four acts, ‘Paladini di Francia’ [“Matter of France”], and the story of Bradamante, one of the greatest female knights in literature, are also among popular themes.”
Throughout history, the stories also served the purpose of conveying historical information to those who were illiterate.
The iron undercarriage and frame, the wooden bed, the entire wheel, axel, shaft, and every other part of the cart that could be painted or carved was, typically with images of Mount Etna, the flag of the province (comparable to a U.S. county) where the owner resided, the moon, stars and sun, angels, the Trinacria (the “triangle” symbol of Sicily depicting three legs extending from a woman’s head), horses, flowers, mythological creatures, heroes, heroines, emperors, kings, and queens.
Building a cart, still today, involves a crew of people, including woodcarvers (if panels were carved rather than painted, but some carved carts are also painted), metal workers, blacksmiths, carpentars, and painters. From start to finish, a carved cart can take as long as five years to complete. Several painters typically work together on the painted carts, but if done by one artist they can take a year or more to finish.
During weddings and other special occasions, including village or city celebrations and festivals, carts and the donkeys or horses, the latter of which were commonly used in cities and flat plains, were even more elaborately decorated with bells, fringe, ribbons, and other colorful trims.
The Sicilian painted or carved carretto was most popular in just a few provinces on the Island, each having its own style. In Palermo, sides are traditionally cone-shapped (narrower at the base and wider at the top). The sides of carts made in the province of Catania, where Puglisi’s family resides, are horizontally straight. Carts created in Agrigento followed the trends of the style used in Palermo as both are on the western side of Sicily. Typically, but not always, full-size cart beds are about four feet long, from front to end, not including the shafts (extensions used to harness the cart to the animal).
Individual provinces also used a heavier hand with favored colors. Puglisi says red is the traditional base color in the province of Catania, and yellow is used more in Palermo and Agrigento.
Take a brief drive by car through the small villages and towns that dot the Sicilian terrain and you will quickly realize how critical the carretto Sicilia (Sicilian cart) was to civilization throughout the past 3,200 years.
Sicily is frequently referred to as the “Land of the Gods” in fiction, history, and travel literature due to the immense amount of mythology originating and recorded on its terra firma. The Gods, some feel, created the Island for the carts, and not the reverse. The rocky and mountainous terrain necessitated path builders of ancient days to carve their roads in a traverse pattern up vertical mountainsides, often along narrow paths edging on steep cliffs. Circumventing around mounds and hillsides, they reverted back down when an obstructive cliff interfered, and then aimed skyward again as the mountainous landscape granted permission. The road builders’ focus was to accommodate the carts that would travel the paths.
A century ago, a common sight in these mountains would be to see the furry gray head of a donkey surmount a dust wave from around a curved path, and a small rectangular cart emerge from behind. Beneath the mud gobs and dust on the cart’s sides and undercarriage, one’s eyes would discern brightly colored, intricately detailed painted figures. Today such carts are known as the famous “walking picture books,” depicting romance, historical events, and significant religious occurrences.
The pride of Sicilian peasants, the carts were frescoed and wrought, though the owner might well have lived in a cave. The donkey too would have been highly adorned, with velvet coverlets, tassels, and glittering bits of mirror, albeit its owner probably wore rags.
Imagine, were the possessor of such a cart alive today, what he would think to learn that his prized cart is valued at about $12 million U.S. dollars.
