Laboratorio Saccardi's Monument to Franco and Ciccio in Palermo

Laboratorio Saccardi is completing a monument to Sicilian comedians Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia, to be inaugurated on April 8 in Piazza Sant'Anna al Capo, Palermo. The project is funded by GNV – Grandi Navi Veloci, with support from Laboriusa (crowdfunding), Ars Mediterranea, and the Capo district representative Ottavio Zacco. The monument is part of a broader trend of community-driven art projects in neglected Italian areas, such as Farm Cultural Park in Palermo and Favara, A Cielo Aperto in Latronico, and EX-FADDA in San Vito dei Normanni. Artists Vincenzo Profeta and Marco Leone Barone of Laboratorio Saccardi describe the monument as a shared idea that was "in the air," aiming to create a public and popular artwork that engages with the territory. The article by Christian Caliandro frames this as a neo-vernacular movement in Italian contemporary art, resisting subalternity and reconnecting art with the people through parody and authenticity.