Gela Streets- Via Pisa and Via Morello

The Colours of Gela: Streets That Came Back to Life

Gela doesn’t really show itself straight away. When you arrive, it can feel a bit grey, a bit closed. Nothing jumps at you. You have to walk around, get lost a little, turn into streets you didn’t plan to see.

And then things start to change, slowly.

In the last few years, parts of the old center have begun to look different. Walls that were empty or damaged now have colour on them. Streets that used to feel forgotten don’t feel completely empty anymore.

Via Pisa and Via Morello

If there’s one area where you notice this most, it’s Via Pisa and Via Morello, in the Manuelle part of town.

Not long ago these streets were quiet. A few closed shutters, not much happening. Now there’s something else going on there.

Via Morello especially has a lot of murals now. They’re not big “perfect” pieces or anything like that — some are simple faces, some more symbolic shapes. They just sit on the walls like they’ve always been there.

A few steps away, Via Pisa has a different feeling. There are handmade mandalas hanging above the street. They are part of the project “Coloriamo il centro storico”, which transformed Via Pisa and Via Morello with more than 300 mandalas. They were created by around forty local women from Gela**,** many of them involved through neighbourhood and community groups, especially linked to craft and crochet work. Among them was Mrs. Concetta, who is 101 years old and one of the oldest participants. Despite her age, she continues to work with crochet with real passion, and she also took part in this project.

Civico 111

A lot of this seems to connect back to a place called Civico 111.

It’s not a big institution or anything like that. More like a small space where people started doing things — organising events, bringing artists in, trying to get people back into the streets again.

And you can kind of feel that when you walk around. The art isn’t placed like a museum. It’s just there — sometimes around a corner, sometimes next to a doorway. You don’t really “visit” it. You just run into it.

Small things

It’s not only murals or big changes.

Some of it is very small things — lights put up by residents, painted railings, plants in front of doors. Things you wouldn’t really notice if you were rushing through.

But in the evening especially, those small things change how the streets feel. Warmer, somehow more alive.

A city still changing

It’s not finished. Probably it won’t ever feel finished.

But in places like Via Pisa and Via Morello, something is happening. Slowly. Not in a big dramatic way.

Just a wall painted.
A street light added.
A space someone decided not to give up on.

And somehow that’s enough to make you notice the city differently.