On the night of January 14th, 1968 a terrible earthquake shook the Valle del Belice area in Sicily, destroying several towns and claiming 1150 victims.

One of these towns, Gibellina, was completely erased and rebuilt several years later at a nearby location. The site of the village ruins, however, was given over to artist Alberto Burri who turned the disaster area into a permanent memorial known as the Cretto di Gibellina. Burri covered the footprints of the destroyed buildings with concrete creating an angular, industrial reminder of the village’s original layout. Building rubble, furniture pieces, utensils, and toys are also left underneath the cretto’s cement. Most affecting of all is the deep, eerie silence which surrounds visitors as they walk the “streets” of Cretto di Gibellina,  leaving nothing but reflection over the destruction and the misery of that 1968 night.