The Botrugno case: RestArt's street art, from via XX Settembre to via Paolo VI

A street, not a museum

Street art is often discussed as a tool for urban regeneration, with visitor numbers and rankings of painted villages. What OnStage did in Botrugno is smaller and more concrete: bringing street art to specific streets of the town, and letting it grow in front of the people who live there.

This is the story of those walls, edition by edition, as far as we can document it.

2018: the steps of via XX Settembre

On 5 May 2018 came the debut of RestArt - Suburban StreetArt Fest, under the patronage of the Municipality of Botrugno. At the heart of the event was a mural painted by Gino Palma on the steps of via XX Settembre, together with a mural contest, a freestyle contest and a hip hop night.

The most important thing about that first edition was not the final result, but the process: the event built a direct bond with the people of the neighbourhood, who followed the artist's work day by day. The mural did not arrive finished: it grew in front of the people who live in the neighbourhood.

2022: a new mural in the same street

After the pause of the pandemic and the association's generational change, on 18 June 2022 RestArt returned to via XX Settembre with Restart, the second edition. The programme brought together a challenge between street writers, the unveiling of a new mural and a live show with several artists on stage.

Going back to the same street means building on what was already there: the neighbourhood that saw the first mural born in 2018 saw a second one arrive. For the association, that edition was a milestone in its journey.

2025: live painting in via Paolo VI

On 18 April 2025 Restart returned for its third edition, in a smaller format, and changed street: live painting and a DJ set in via Paolo VI. Here too the principle was the same as in 2018: the work is made in public.

What the Botrugno case teaches

We have no statistics on visitors or businesses to show. What the story of RestArt shows is a simple method:

1. Bring art to where people live: the steps of via XX Settembre, then via Paolo VI.
2. Work in public: residents who follow the artist day by day become part of the work.
3. Come back: a second mural in the same street tells the neighbourhood that the first one was not a one-off.
4. Do it with the Municipality: the first edition took place under the patronage of the Municipality of Botrugno.

How the idea of the festival was born is told in [RestArt: how the idea of a street art festival in Botrugno was born](/blog/restart-2024-come-e-nata-l-idea). If you want to help us with the next initiatives, [become a member](/diventa-socio).