Painted Stories of Paladins

This hands-on experience is devoted to the painted language of traditional Sicilian carts. Guests are welcomed by master painters Filippo Grillo and Alessandro Reale in their workshop in the Vucciria. The experience begins with an introduction built around original cart pieces and the stories they carry, from the origins of this tradition to its place as one of the most recognizable expressions of Made in Sicily. Sicilian carts traditionally depict the deeds of the Paladins of France — drawn from the Carolingian cycle that took deep root in Sicilian popular culture — alongside stories from the island's myths and crucial episodes in its history. Filippo and Alessandro then show the painting technique used on the carts, explaining the colors, gestures, and visual rules that define this craft. After the demonstration, guests work directly with them to paint a small object of their choice, selecting from a wooden panel, a small box, or paper.

This experience presents Sicilian cart painting not as folklore alone, but as a complex visual tradition, where stories, colors, figures, and techniques work together in a precise narrative code. The cart becomes understandable as a cultural object with its own rules: a place where memory, image, ornament, and gesture are held in balance by a practice developed over time. Filippo and Alessandro are the only artists in Palermo carrying this tradition forward today, at a time when it risks disappearing. Their studio keeps alive a discipline that belongs to the cart and to the broader history of Sicilian visual culture, without reducing it to decoration or nostalgia. The master and pupil continuity is essential here, because this craft survives through hands, repetition, correction, and daily work in the studio. Through a chain of teaching passed on day by day, the tradition remains tangible: not heritage to be described from a distance, but a living practice.

Alessandro Reale and Filippo Grillo are two of the few artists in Palermo specializing in the painted language of Sicilian carts. Filippo Grillo is a multidisciplinary artist who learned the art of Sicilian cart painting in his youth from Giuseppe Manfrè, one of the most important painters in this tradition. Alessandro Reale is a younger artist who learned from Filippo Grillo and now works alongside him as part of a master and pupil tradition that has carried Sicilian cart painting across generations. Their work brings tradition and innovation together, combining the different decorative elements of the cart while maintaining balance in the painting style. Reuse and recycling are central to the workshop: ancient roof tiles, ceramic tiles, wooden boards, and old furniture are given new life through the decorative language in which Filippo and Alessandro specialize.

Filippo and Alessandro will take care of everything, welcoming guests with all the materials already prepared for the painting session.