Millo’s Mural in Alcamo: Lo Scacciapensieri and Street Art in Sicily
In the St. Maria Ausiliatrice neighbourhood of Alcamo, Sicily, The new Millo mural in Alcamo rises across the side of a residential building with a musical instrument and a bright red heart.
Created as part of Urban Sunrise Alcamo, the mural forms part of a long-term initiative focused on strengthening social bonds through contemporary street art, extending far beyond the physical surface of the wall.
Detail of Millo’s mural and the Marranzano in Alcamo. Image credit @gianlucasenia_photographer
Lo Scacciapensieri: The Marranzano in the new Millo Mural in Alcamo
Titled Lo Scacciapensieri, the mural takes its name from the Marranzano, a traditional Sicilian musical instrument whose metallic vibration has echoed across the island for centuries. Often described as a “thought-dispeller,” the Marranzano carries a symbolic weight that is both intimate and collective.
In Millo’s mural in Alcamo, this instrument becomes a visual metaphor for continuity, memory, and emotional resilience, translating sound into image and tradition into contemporary urban language.
Detail of Millo’s mural and the Marranzano in Alcamo. Image credit @gianlucasenia_photographer
Millo’s Street Art Language in Alcamo’s Urban Landscape
Millo transforms the Marranzano into a monumental visual composition that unfolds across the residential façade. At the centre, the figure lifts a bright red heart above their head, framed by Millo’s signature dense, hand-painted cityscape. The oversized form of the Marranzano curves through the architecture, connecting buildings, streets, and imagined pathways.
This approach aligns with Millo’s broader body of work, visible across international street art murals, where cities become emotional maps shaped by care, vulnerability, and shared responsibility.
Millo’s mural “Lo Scacciapensieri” in Alcamo, Sicily, created for Urban Sunrise Alcamo in the St. Maria Ausiliatrice neighbourhood. Image credit @gianlucasenia_photographer
Public Art and Social Regeneration in Millo’s Alcamo Mural
Millo’s mural in Alcamo speaks to the idea of throwing one’s heart beyond obstacles, an act of courage rooted in vulnerability.
“I am happy to show you my latest mural created in Sicily, in the city of Alcamo for @urban_sunrise_alcamo, a project born with the aim to spark a change that goes beyond aesthetics, focusing primarily on the social fabric of the neighborhood. “Lo Scacciapensieri” better known in Sicilian as the Marranzano, is an almost mythological instrument. It is a symbol of the region and its traditions, whose distinctive sound has always echoed across the island. As if a “scacciapensieri” (literally, a “thought-dispeller”) could help us throw our hearts over every obstacle, becoming at the same time, roots and impulse toward the future.” Millo
What gives Lo Scacciapensieri particular strength is its sensitivity to place. Alcamo is approached as a living context with its own rhythms, histories, and social tensions. The mural invites participation and reflection.
Millo’s mural “Lo Scacciapensieri” in Alcamo, Sicily, created for Urban Sunrise Alcamo in the St. Maria Ausiliatrice neighbourhood. Image credit @gianlucasenia_photographer
Contemporary Urban Art in Sicily
Millo’s mural in Alcamo becomes part of a wider conversation around urban regeneration, contemporary muralism, and public art in Sicily. Like the sound of the Marranzano itself, the Millo mural in Alcamo reminds us that these conversations often start with the smallest vibration.
View of Millo’s mural in Alcamo integrated into the surrounding residential architecture of the St. Maria Ausiliatrice neighbourhood. Image credit @gianlucasenia_photographer
Urban Sunrise Alcamo, promoted and produced by the Comune di Alcamo through the PNRR and led by Sperone167 ETS, positions public art as social infrastructure rather than decoration. With artistic animation by Igor Scalisi Palminteri, and support from Street Art Cities and Vedi Palermo, the project emphasises long-term engagement with the neighbourhood.
Photo: © Gianluca Senia (@gianlucasenia_photographer)
Artwork: © Millo copyright