Borgo dipinto di Furore (Muri in cerca d'autore)

Furore has no single centre, and in the early 1980s its promoters began placing murals by contemporary artists on walls, retaining structures and house fronts across the scattered hamlets. The project, Muri in cerca d'autore, created an open-air collection of about one hundred works.

Why it matters

Furore is known as il paese che non c'e (the village that is not there) because its houses are scattered in clusters without a single centre, and as il paese dipinto (the painted village) because murals by contemporary artists cover the outer walls. The project responded to the settlement's dispersed geography, and the open-air collection has become a defining feature of the comune.

What to notice

Journalist Katia Salvini devised the arc-and-lettering logo Furore paese dipinto, which painter Franco Mora transferred to a wall. The earliest murals are credited to the Mazzella brothers: Rosario and Elio painted, and Luigi sculpted. Their subjects include the comune's history, legends and everyday life. The works include around one hundred paintings and more than one hundred and twenty sculptures, distributed across the hamlets on walls, stairways and retaining structures.

Context and history

The initiative took shape at the start of the 1980s under the title Muri in cerca d'autore — walls in search of an author. The project took shape in 1980, with artists contributing voluntarily and municipal sponsorship. Former mayor Raffaele Ferraioli was among its promoters and later became president of the Associazione Italiana dei Paesi Dipinti, founded in Furore in May 1994 with about thirty member communes, including Orgosolo, Dozza and Diamante. Ferraioli died in 2022.