Monte degli Ulivi (''Mount of Olives'') is a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architectural ensemble consisting of six buildings by architect Leonardo Ricci at the southeastern outskirts of the city of

Riesi Riesi is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caltanissetta in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about south of Caltanissetta. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 11,678 and an area of .All de ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. It was built from 1963 to 1966 to house the ''Servizio Cristiano'', an outreach centre founded in 1961 by the Waldensian pastor Tullio Vinay, which has been using and expanding it since.

Description

It consists of the following buildings, which are embedded by an olive grove on the slope of a hill: * community house ''(Casa Comunitaria)'' with dining hall, kitchens, and living quarters, * nursery school ''(Scuola Materna)'', * elementary school ''(Scuola Elementare)'', * vocational school for mechanics ''(Scuola Officina Meccanica)'', *library (''Biblioteca''), * house for families ''(casa per famiglie)'', A planned church building ''(ecclesia)'' was never realised. The buildings are characterised by organic, curved monopitch roofs of white-plastered concrete, which stand out against angular walls of raw natural stone. Right angles are rare. In this way, the ensemble refers to Ricci's teacher

Giovanni Michelucci Giovanni Michelucci (2 January 1891 – 31 December 1990) was an Italian architect, urban planner and designer. He had the good fortune to live a long life almost entirely within the span of the twentieth century, giving us a valuable witness th ...

and the style of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

on the one hand and connects to the Sicilian landscape on the other hand, because the natural stone used in the walls was sourced in the immediate vicinity. File:Monte degli Ulivi cortile.jpg, courtyard and nursery school (left) File:Monte degli Ulivi balcone.jpg, view from the balcony of the nursery school File:Monte degli Ulivi ulivo.jpg, olive tree in front of the elementary school

History

The ensemble was named after the hill on which it stands, but also refers to the biblical

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...

. It was built by local construction companies together with a community of volunteers who founded the outreach centre together with Tullio Vinay. Vinay's motivation was to tackle the poverty, illiteracy, and crime caused by the decline of sulphur mining in the region. The vocational school building is now used to house offices and as an events space. The initial complex has been expanded with a further guest house, a facility for people with disabilities and a sports field. There also are sheds and water reservoirs for the centre's own agriculture (olives, almonds, vegetables) on the premises. A family advice centre and the church of the Waldensian community dating from the 19th century are located in the city centre.

Significance

The vocational school for mechanics has been called "one of the most characteristic works of the modernist architectural movement in Sicily", and the entire complex has been described as "great architecture", executed with simple means. The complex was classified as a historical monument in 2008 "for the singularity of the figurative language of informal inspiration and organic influence, the wise relationship with nature and landscape, the particular interpretation of a new idea of community and the design method of the author of undisputed design quality, a significant intervention in the panorama of contemporary architecture in Sicily". A description on the occasion of Ricci's 100th birthday concluded with the words, "the village of Monte degli Ulivi should be remembered as an experience of significant importance, an urban expression of the continuity of the actions of an entire community; an organism that lends itself to being lived in and where every inhabitant feels alive."

External links

Website of the Servizio Cristiano
(English) * Atlante Architettura Contemporanea
''Villaggio Monte degli Ulivi''
(Italian) * Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi:
Architetti d’Italia.Leonardo Ricci, lo straripante
'' ''Artribune'', 18 September 2018 (Italian). * Marco Del Francia:
Il Monte degli Ulivi a Riesi
'. ''Artapp'', 22 February 2019 (Italian). * Mediaart Production Coop
Eine Waldenser-Oase am Monte degli Ulivi
(video), 2020.

References

Cultural heritage of Italy Waldensianism Stone buildings Residential buildings in Italy 1960s architecture Buildings and structures in Sicily School buildings completed in the 1960s Stone school buildings Christian schools in Italy Riesi

Description

History

Significance

External links

Further reading

References