Travelcast Piceno - Audio & Video Guide per la Provincia di Ascoli Piceno

From the central plaza, we continue, passing under an antique arch that has an interesting decoration in the shape of wolf’s fangs, with bricks placed in the form of a triangle and, through the brief and steep Vicolo Torrione, we reach a plaza that opens up towards the landscape. The irregular space we see here is contemporary to the buildings that surround it, the houses and the upper part of the Torrione della Battaglia, on the right. But, upon careful observation, we may notice that in the paving there are two distinct parts, arising from different periods.

In fact, until roughly ten years ago, this was nothing more than a narrow road, substantially the continuation of the alleyway we just came from. During the work of consolidation and restoration of the town the opportunity arose to widen the street, bringing it to its current state, one that resembles a large balcony over the sea. It was a delicate intervention that ultimately respected the site, with all its temporal and stylistic superimpositions. This corner of the town has been named “ll Tarpato”, the nom d’art of Giacomo Pomili, painter from Grottammare who passed away in 1997. A shy and solitary man, this artist was able to express in his work  a world in which reality and imagination unite, giving life to an extremely original universe. It is to him that Grottammare will dedicate the Museum that will be located in the rooms underneath the Theatre dell’Arancio, in the main plaza.
From the road we can walk towards the Torrione, which has recently been restored to full use and fully enjoy the panoramic view from of its terrace.
This terrace expresses its defensive functions in the battlements that make up its outline, used as protection by the soldiers, and in the drains that were used to throw down boiling oil or pitch in order to discourage anyone who might attempt an assault. Dating to the second part of the 1500s, the construction of the Torrione is linked to the frequent pirate attacks from the sea. Recently restored, two internal floors make up the Municipal Museum dedicated to Pericle Fazzini. The artist, born in Grottammare in 1913, began to sculpt at a very early age in the carpentry shop of his family. In 1930 he moved to Rome, where he undertook study of the nude figure at the Scuola Libera. Upon his return to Rome in 1943, after the war years spent in Dalmatia, he initiated a new creative period that culminated with the realisation of the monumental sculpture of “The Resurrection” for the Audience Hall at the Vatican. Following his participation in important exhibitions in Italy and abroad,  victory in major competitions and a personal exhibition at the Biennale of Venice, Fazzini realized the fruit of seven years of his life’s work in that masterpiece. Begun in 1970, “The Resurrection” was inaugurated in 1977 in the Nervi Hall, consecrating its creator, who died in Rome in 1987, with international recognition. From the “sculptor of the wind”, as his friend the poet Ungaretti defined him, in the urban environment one is able to see two of his works at the coastline of Grottammare: the study for the “Monument to Kennedy”, in Piazza Fazzini, and “The boy with seagulls”, located at the beginning of the northern bicycle path.
From the terrace we can once again descend the steps, returning to Largo “Il Tarpato”. From a door that opens at the side of the Torrione one can enter the Museum that hosts, and exhibits in rotation, the approximately 230 works of art by the artist which were purchased by the Foundation of the Savings Bank of Ascoli Piceno and provided on permanent loan to the Municipality of Grottammare. A portion of the work, approximately 140 pieces, comes from the collection of Lisa Schneider, the artist’s model. The exceptional nature of this part of the collection lies in the fact that they are unique exemplars donated by the artist to his own model, expressing an unusual relationship. In the museum one may view sculptures in bronze, gold and silver, engravings, lithographs, pastels, bas-reliefs in bronze and silver and numerous drawings. A curiosity the chair made by the artist himself in order to allow Pope Paul VI to comfortably sit and observe the birth of the monumental sculpture for the Audience Hall during its working phases.

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