There is a place, in Sicily, that seems like a mirage.
It stands at an elevation of 1000 meters, amidst the Sicani Mountains, in the territory of Santo Stefano di Quisquina. It is suspended between earth, sky, and sea, overlooking a vast valley from which, on clear days, one can catch a glimpse of the Pantelleria island.
It is a dreamlike, metaphysical, supernatural place. Visionary. Because it originates, precisely, from a vision. It is the Theater of Andromeda.
The vision belongs to Lorenzo Reina, the artist-shepherd who has created a place that defies every definition. It is challenging to equate it with a concept or an idea. Impossible to liken it to any place visited before, except perhaps in dreams.
Lorenzo is the son of a shepherd, and in his soul has always burned the sacred fire of art, along with a passion for philosophy, history, and astronomy. Despite the Sicilian hinterland appearing to be a seemingly inhospitable territory that leaves little room for art and dreams, Lorenzo decides to stay and continue his father’s work. But he goes a step further: he wants to make his mark on this land by infusing it with a desire—to draw inspiration from his flock and the “mànnare” the sheep pens, to build a stone theater.
This is how Reina describes his inspiration:
Many ask me how the idea for the theater came about… it is written that;The Spirit, like the wind, blows where it wills’s and it blew here, where at the end of 1970, I used to graze the sheep, and at sunset, I saw them ruminating in peace several times, still as if made of stone. I felt that holy spirits dwelled in this place, and so I decided to build a stone theater here.
The Theater consists of a circular stage, studded with stone blocks that serve as seats. At Andromeda Theater, nothing is accidental: the stone cubes, seemingly arranged without apparent logic at first glance, number 108, just like the stars in the Andromeda constellation, faithfully reproducing its projection. When viewed from above, they indeed appear as eight-pointed stars.
Walking through the theater is a simultaneously epic and cosmic journey. Strolling amidst galaxies,one immerses themselves in ancient myths and the millennia-old roots of Sicilian land, encountering the faces of the peoples who have traversed and conquered it over the centuries, leaving an indelible mark.
A series of evocative sculptures and conceptual works, with classical references, but also eluding any precise definition, complete the masterpiece, much like the space that hosts them.
At sunset, one is left dazzled by this mystical place that shimmers with golden light. During the summer solstice, at twilight, a ray of sunlight passes through the mouth of one of the most significant sculptures, the Imago of the Word’s it is art, transformed into a word of light through the sun.
Visiting Andromeda Theater is akin to walking, on tiptoes, into a surrealist painting.
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