Snail
The work of De Luca, an artisan for three generations
The large "babbalùcia" sculpture, an enormous wrought iron snail elevated on a base inscribed with "the praise of slowness" which also serves as a bench, was created by Master Enzo De Luca, an artisan for three generations with an artistic background: he has crafted numerous installations in Sambuca (from heraldic emblems to various representations of the snail, now a symbol of the town) as well as in other municipalities of the Terre Sicane. The work was made in his workshop-laboratory in Piazza Collegio, in collaboration with his son, Paolo De Luca, a Professor of Decorative Painting, who handled the decorative aspects.
A "babbalùcia" to learn slowness
The sculpture aims to rediscover the value of slowness—the passage of time from the perspective of a snail, which lives its life slowly, savoring it in all its splendor. In various cultures, the snail symbolizes energy and fertility, resilience and determination, spiritual growth and rebirth. Early Christians placed snail shells in sarcophagi as a symbol of resurrection and the immortality of the soul. For the French economist and philosopher Serge Latouche, it represents a model of happy degrowth, as the growth of the snail's shell stops once it reaches the maximum size relative to its body. This perfectly represents Sambuca, a sustainable village reborn after the destruction of the 1968 earthquake, thanks to the determination and resilience of its community. It has become the emblem of Sambuca Welcoming, a symbol of sustainability, memory, art, regeneration, and territory.
The Snail
Perhaps not everyone knows that... the inhabitants of Sambuca have long been nicknamed "sammucàri babbaluciàri" (Sambuca snails) from the term "babbalùcia" (snail); this nickname, which recalls the large number of snails (babbalùci) that once populated the countryside, is so endearing to them that they have scattered various installations depicting their symbol—the snail—throughout the town. There is an iron one clinging to the corner of Palazzo Panitteri, another within its courtyard, one erected on a pedestal along Corso Umberto I, a wooden one in the sensory garden of the inclusive playground in the Villa Comunale, and one in the center of Piazza Vittoria, along Corso Umberto I. The latter has been named Vittoria, like the square in which it was initially located.
