A journey between the pizza’s white art and the popular creativity par excellence – the street art – closes today, July 22, 2020! The new facade of the Istituto Comprensivo Michelangelo Ilioneo in Bagnoli, fully painted with the mural crafted thanks to the partnership between the Costantino Cutolo Foundation, the City of Naples and Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli, will be unveiled today, at noon. But what does the tomato have to do with painting? We tell you everything here.
The story

In the beginning, there was the Pizza Village

As we know, the latest edition of the Napoli Pizza Village was held in 2019. And precisely during the celebration of the world’s most beautiful pizza, the stand of Ciao – Il Pomodoro di Napoli greeted a fascinating contest that challenged the most creative writers of the Neapolitan area. Four young talents selected among many others through a first online demonstration phase requesting the submission of their arts portfolio.

Of the four artists in contest on the promenade of Naples, Davide Arpaia was then declared the winner as the best proponent of the link between pizza and tomato, receiving the opportunity to “put his hands” on a public building owned by the City of Naples. No night trips carrying the spray paint hidden in the bag then, but a true and real mural to enliven in September the coming back to school for many boys and girls of the Neapolitan suburbs.

The wall painting:

The work crafted by Davide Arpaia on the facade of the Istituto Comprensivo Michelangelo Ilioneo shows a tomato plant that climbs between the windows of the classrooms and yields books (i.e. culture). And the word “culture” is here the keystone that joins the attention to the youngest (one of the great goals of the Costantino Cutolo Foundation), and the cultural legacy so perfectly embodied by pizza and tomato.

If you are curious to discover the colors of this artwork, just take a look here at the
Gallery

“Street art is an artistic avant-garde able that inspire to think with irony, sarcasm and elicitation about the evils, defects and contradictions of modern society. A movement that reveals in advance trends and predicts the taste of people acting in the communities. A street art popular and democratic like pizza, of immediate enjoyment and strong impact,” said Lino Cutolo.