Vicari Street Art Fest – Urban Art Festival

A Sicilian village turned into an open-air gallery

The Vicari Street Art Fest – Urban Art Festival is an event that every summer lights up the historic center of Vicari, a small town in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily. Promoted and organized by the Municipality of Vicari, the festival was born with the goal of enhancing the village's urban landscape and increasing its tourist and cultural appeal through mural art, turning walls, facades, and forgotten corners into permanent open-air canvases.

The path of art through the alleys of Vicari

The heart of the festival is the "A Mural for the Path of Art" competition, open to artists of all nationalities with no age limit. Through a public call, the Municipality selects the authors invited to create new works on walls identified within the town's historic fabric. Sketches, color palettes, and projects are evaluated by a committee, and the murals take shape live during the days of the event, allowing residents and visitors to follow the birth of the works step by step.

Edition after edition: a widespread museum

Year after year, the Vicari Street Art Fest has enriched the village with new murals, building a true urban art trail. Among the most well-known works is the mural dedicated to Peppino Impastato, titled "C'è sempre suli a Vicari" (There is always sun in Vicari), signed by the Palermo-based artist Igor Scalisi Palminteri, a symbol of civil commitment against the mafia. Subsequent editions have seen the participation of Italian and international artists, including the French street artists Isa & Man, and the setting up of traveling exhibitions such as "Tela senza Confini" (Canvas without Borders) at Palazzo Pecoraro-Maggi.

Not just murals: workshops, exhibitions, and shows

The festival is not limited to mural painting. The program usually includes children's workshops, art exhibitions, meetings, and conferences on the theme of urban art, as well as live performances that animate the squares and alleys of the historic center. Urban art thus becomes an opportunity for collective participation and rediscovery of the town, capable of uniting residents, schools, and visitors around a contemporary and accessible language.

Vicari, between history and contemporary art

Perched on a hill dominated by the remains of the Arab-Norman Castle, Vicari is a village in the Palermo hinterland with ancient origins, immersed in a landscape of hills and countryside in the Sicani Mountains area. The contrast between the historic stones of the town and the vibrant colors of the contemporary murals is one of the most fascinating features of the festival, which uses street art as a tool for regeneration and a new identity for the local community.

A summer appointment in the heart of Sicily

Included in the rich summer calendar of Vicari, which includes concerts, the Vicari White Night, and the festival dedicated to the almond, the Vicari Street Art Fest represents one of the most defining cultural appointments of the territory. Each new edition consolidates the bond between the village and urban art, gifting Vicari with new works that remain available to those who choose to walk through its alleys to discover the widespread museum.