Assafà 2024 – San Matteo

All projects

Festival

Assafà - Immagini che fomento!

Promoters

SCIGLIO + BLAM

Location

Complesso Monumentale di Santa Sofia

Year

2024

ASSAFà Festival | SCIGLIO

"ASSAFA' - immagini che fomento!" is the first edition of a project dealing with the culture of image and its disciplines. Illustration, graphic design, photography, printing techniques. The topic of the first edition is the patron saint of the city, San Matteo.

Immagini, che fomento!

Assafà, from the Neapolitan Assa' fa', is a dialect expression of liberation, mainly used in the meaning of “let it be done,” “finally.” From the desire to contribute, in Salerno, to the strengthening of a supply chain of illustration and graphic design. The topic of the first edition 2024 investigates the theme of the city's patron saint: the symbols of San Matteo, his celebrations, rituals. The symbols related to the figure of the saint are the reliquary arm, the mullets and the double face.

The mullets: three silver fish that are part of San Matteo's treasure, carried in procession hanging from the saint's hand, represent the deep connection between the saint, the city and the sea. According to legend, San Matteo is said to have saved Salerno from Saracen invasion by causing a storm at sea to ward off enemy ships. Moreover, traditionally, the statue of San Matteo was carried in procession by the city's fishermen, further strengthening this symbolic connection with the sea.

The reliquary arm of San Matteo: composed of a blessing hand emerging from a sleeve with wide folds resting on a base supported by feral paws. The Saint's hand blessing the city and protecting it.

Two-faced: San Matteo is the patron saint of the city of Salerno and is venerated by Salernitans as a two-faced saint. In the crypt of the Cathedral, the bronze statue of the saint is depicted with two faces facing opposite directions. This iconographic duplicity has several meanings: on the one hand, it represents Matthew's two lives, that as a publican and that as an apostle; on the other, it symbolizes the saint's earthly and material dimension (on one side) and his spiritual and mystical dimension (on the other). Salerno's San Matteo also faces both the sea and the gulf and the mountains, thus highlighting the dual nature of the city, between sea and mountains. In popular culture, the “double face” has become a symbol identifying Salernitans as people of ambiguous character.

Illustrations on display at the Monumental Complex of St. Sophia, Salerno.

Behind the scenes. Hand-crafted illustrations. Digital post-production and coloring.