Places like Poggioreale became ghost towns as communities were relocated en masse. Gibellina suffered a different fate. Here, it was decided to demolish what survived of seventeenth century structures and erect a vast, labyrinthine cement work of art to trace the path of streets without leaving any other trace of the town's history. Henceforth, descendants of people from "old" abandoned Gibellina would have nothing but an anonymous concrete edifice to commemorate their deceased kin.

Thus was born Burri's infamous Cretto ("Crevice"). The late Alberto Burri was not Sicilian but Tuscan, and was paid partly with funds which, in a more perfect world, might have gone to help Gibellina's displaced residents, whose new home was to be Gibellina Nuova ("New Gibellina"), an ugly settlement some sixteen miles away, populated by five thousand people. At the time of its construction, the Cretto was considered the world's largest outdoor sculpture

This maze may have been more appropriate, and more welcome, in another place.

About the Author: Antonella Gallo, who teaches art in Rome, has written numerous articles on arts and artists for Best of Sicily.