What is art?

Someone some time conveyed the concept to me that art is all that is not created casually. And sometimes casually you come across art... art that tells history!

That’s what happened to me. One day, I went to Trieste and parked in a car park built a few years ago near the Roman theatre in the centre of town, just steps from the wonderful Piazza Unità d’Italia below the hill of San Giusto. So after parking the car, I headed for the exit and my attention was drawn to pictures painted on the walls of the tunnel leading outside.

Pictures of vintage cars racing through the streets of the city, a stopwatch, road signs indicating Opicina and also its famous tram. At the end there are two panels that describe what is illustrated in these murals and who created them. I was surprised to learn that there used to be a race that started in Trieste. Yes, a car race... and what a race! The event took place from 1911 to 1971, and was an uphill race that started from the city centre and went up to Opicina on the Karst plateau. The tortuous route passed along via Fabio Severo and carried on up as far as the obelisk monument. In 1930, Tazio Nuvolari won his first race in a Ferrari here. Since 1982, this contest has been re-launched as a historic re-enactment, which this year, 2017, took place on 1 April.

The mural was painted by Davide and Sara Comelli. Davide explained to me that he had painted it in the summer of 2015 using acrylic paint and brushes and pointed out that there is another mural in the tunnel that connects the entrance of the car park to the third underground floor where there are views of the city and an illustration of the historical vocation of Trieste for the sea and trade.

He also told me that wandering around the city one can see other works: in the Ponziana district, along the cycle trail near the Salesiani di don Bosco gymnasium, on the left side on the facade of one of the Ater buildings, there is a large flying tug on a blue background. Outside the Chiarbola building, descending the trunk road, there is a now very faded long and multifaceted mural on the subject of the impossible machine (an imaginary machine generating perpetual motion). In the district of Rozzol Melara, along the external corridors followed to enter the apartment blocks, a refurbishment and signing project was undertaken in 2004.

So if you liked the car park murals, now you have an extra reason to go to Trieste.