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Landscape artwork by, Alberto Burri

37°47′17″N 12°58′17″E / 37.788081°N 12.971284°E / 37.788081; 12.971284

Il Grande Cretto
ArtistAlberto Burri
Year1984–2015
TypeConcrete sculpture
Dimensions1.50 m × 350 m × 280 m (4.9 ft × 1,150 ft × 920 ft)
LocationGibellina, Sicily

The Cretto di Burri (crack of Burri) or Cretto di Gibellina (crack of Gibellina), also known as "Il Grande Cretto (The Great Crack)", is a landscape artwork undertaken by Alberto Burri in 1984 and left unfinished in 1989 (due to lack of funds), based on the old city of Gibellina in North West Sicilly. The original city of Gibellina was completely destroyed in the 1968 Belice earthquake. Gibellina has since been rebuilt, about 20 km from the city's original location. In 2015, to mark what would have been Burri's one hundredth birthday, the work was finally completed. In 2023 the Cretto hosted the closure of the 42nd edition of the "Orestiadi" festival, with the music of Italian songwriter Mario Venuti. The Orestiadi of 2023 saw a record in spectators.

The Cretto is also the subject of the theatrical show "I-TIGI a Gibellina" and its video transposition "I-TIGI Canto per Ustica" by the Italian stage actor, theater director, dramaturge and author Marco Paolini. Shot entirely within the Cretto di Burri in the year 2000, it's the story of the DC9 ITAVIA, which sank in the waters of Ustica in June 1980, and the reconstruction of the long investigation conducted by the Italian judge Rosario Priore. The author declared that he choose the Cretto. Because "it is a sort of concrete labyrinth, which, seen from above, is similar to the maze of lies in which the judges had to orient themselves to find the thread of the investigation".

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