From mosaics sparkling under the winter sun, to terrazzo floors with intricate geometric designs and frescoes carved into stone and plaster that tell forgotten stories, Sydney’s city centre hides precious fragments of an Italian-Australian artistic heritage waiting to be rediscovered.
It’s in this spirit that Co.As.It., in collaboration with the Melocco family, has created Painting with Stone: a series of guided walks exploring masterpieces by the Melocco brothers, three Italian artisans who transformed the city’s aesthetic landscape.
Tours will run every Wednesday and Saturday from July to September, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., following a route through the heart of Sydney. Participants will be guided past historic buildings and hidden architectural details often hurriedly overlooked by the modern passer-by.
Yet behind those decorated surfaces lies a powerful story of migration, artistry and resilience. The Melocco brothers’ tale is one of three men who left a small Italian village with suitcases full of dreams.
Arriving in Australia in the early 1900s, they made an indelible mark on some of Sydney’s most significant public and private buildings, showcasing their mastery of ancient crafts such as mosaic, Venetian terrazzo, sgraffito and scagliola. These techniques, once seen in Renaissance courts, were reimagined in modern form for a young and rapidly changing city.
Painting with Stone offers participants the chance to not only admire these works up close, but to also learn about their history, techniques and the broader cultural context in which they were created. It’s a journey through art and urban design, memory and material, linking Italy and Australia.
For more information, visit coasit.org.au.
