From 18 to 20 September 2026, forty madonnari from ten countries worked on their knees on the tarmac of via Fratelli Testa for the tenth edition of the “Madonnari di Sicilia” International Competition. The theme was «With Mary, weavers of hope in the age of artificial intelligence», and you can read it in the titles: Ave Codex, Machines cannot pray, Artificial Mater, False idols.
Then the rain came. Most of the works were never completed, and the digital public vote that ViviNicosia had prepared as the competition’s Digital Partner — a QR code beside each station, one preference each, no sign-up — was cancelled: there was no sense in asking people to vote for works the water was washing away.
What remains
Everything else remains, and it is online. For each of the forty stations there is a page with a photograph of the work as it was on the street, the sketch the artist had handed in before starting, the title, the place of origin and a description written by the madonnaro in their own words. Thirty-seven works were in competition and three out of competition; thirty-seven have their sketch beside the photograph.
The 40 works of the tenth edition →
The signs with the QR codes are still beside the stations: scan one and that work’s page opens. The photographs are by Telenicosia, which followed all three days; their report of 20 September (in Italian) also has the videos.
The two ViviNicosia trophies
At the prize-giving ViviNicosia presented two trophies, to the youngest and the oldest participant: Mattia Pantaleo, who worked out of competition at station 33, and José Fernando Cárdenas Barrera, who came from Colombia to station 36. They were not ranking prizes — there was no ranking this year — but a thank-you to those who came from furthest away, in time and in space.
Thank you
To the forty madonnari, who drew knowing what rain does to chalk. To the “Madonnari di Sicilia” association and to Maurizio Cannizzo, who wanted ViviNicosia alongside the competition as Digital Partner. To Telenicosia for the photographs. The pages stay: next time you walk down via Fratelli Testa, look down, then scan the sign.