“Nocturnal Phaeton” for Borgo Universo, Aielli (Italy).
I choose this beautiful ancient myth to combine two concepts deeply related to the small town it was painted: up on the hill of Aielli raise “the Tower of the Stars”, a medieval astronomical observatory that gave in ancient times fame and knowledge to the all region. The tower is almost a thousand years old and it’s still functioning. The second concept, related to Phaeton’s fall from the sun chariot connect Aielli to the brutal Fucino earthquake that gave death to almost 30.000 people in 1915.
For those who doesn’t know this myth, here are few lines taken from @wikipedia that explains the story.
Challenged by his playmates, Phaeton sought assurance from his mother that his father was the sun god Helios. She gave him the requested assurance and told him to turn to his father for confirmation. He asked his father for some proof that would demonstrate his relationship with the sun. When the god promised to grant him whatever he wanted, he insisted on being allowed to drive the sun chariot for a day.Placed in charge of the chariot, he was unable to control the horses. The Earth was in danger of being burnt up and, to prevent this disaster, Zeus was forced to strike down the chariot with a thunderbolt and kill Phaethon in the process.

Photo Credit – Andrea Lucente