The ‘Big Bench’ by American architect Chris Bangle becomes the attraction of the ‘Calanchi del Cannizzola’, in the area of ​​Centuripe between the Erei Mountains and Mount Etna. In a panoramic terrace, on a land rented by the Capizzi family of Biancavilla and owned by the Municipality of Biancavilla, the ‘Big Bench’ installation was inaugurated some days ago.

In over 10 years Chris Bangle has disseminated gigantic benches with which to admire the beauty that surrounds us. The initiative is part of the ‘BIG BENCH COMMUNITY PROJECT (BBCP)’ for supporting local communities, tourism and the artisan excellence of the countries where these out-of-scale installations are located. The change of perspective given by the size of the bench, explains its author, makes those who sit on it feel like a child, capable of marveling at the beauty of the landscape with a new look.

Francesco Capizzi, promoter of the Grande Panchina dei Calanchi, says : “The site will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in order to guarantee a flexible and freely programmable flow. We have created it so that it becomes a garrison of a site of inestimable beauty and, at the same time, a tool for rediscovering what we would like to define ‘proximity tourism’, so that anyone can feel included in the use “.

“I had been dreaming of installing a bench in my area for years – explains Salvatore La Spina, Mayor of Centuripe – and when I met Francesco Capizzi who informed me of the project it was a moving moment. The calachi are a place of the soul that slowly begin to be enhanced “.

Made without public funds, the Big Bench inaugurated in Sicily is the n ° 202 in the world and respects the indications of its ‘inventor’, Chris Bangle, who provided drawings and indications to the builders of the benches: all the giant seats, in fact, are made in panoramic points accessible to all to be lived as a collective experience that everyone can share and experience by coming to these areas.
The donations made by the Capizzi family for the construction of the new bench are donated by the BIG BENCH COMMUNITY PROJECT to the municipalities involved and destined to support local communities.