Agata on the road 2026

The theme "Returning Home"—inspired by the 900th anniversary of the return of the relics of Saint Agatha to Catania—is not intended as a nostalgic gesture, but as a process of recognition: in a present marked by constant migration and redefinitions, home becomes a mental and emotional space, a place to be questioned rather than inhabited. The project intertwines memory, belonging, and contemporary languages, offering a reflection on the profound meaning of ritual and celebration. The exhibition unfolds over five floors and features works selected by the 2026 contest jury.

The work by artist Adriana Torregrossa, winner of "A Year with Agatha 2025," was presented: a prize awarded by the contest jury, culminating in the production of a site-specific work born from dialogue and engagement with the Foundation and the local community. The work reflects on time and the persistence of sacred images in collective memory.

The 2026 edition is enriched by the special project "Passi 2026 Aci Castello" by Alfredo Pirri, one of the most authoritative voices in the art world. This permanent, site-specific work transforms Suite 101 of the Four Points by Sheraton Catania hotel into a physical and symbolic threshold, a place of transit and interior sedimentation.

​

"The point of arrival is often the same one from which one's journey began," says Ornella Laneri, president of the Oelle Foundation. "Today, Agata on the road, after enduring pandemics and inclement weather, after being exhibited in the most diverse locations of her city, is where she belongs: in that home to which I returned and where I was able to fulfill—with the complicity of temporary and "forever" traveling companions—the dream, more than a desire, of giving Agata, my patron, the contemporaneity that would allow her to stimulate the critical thinking that is specific to art. It is this conscious and desired "Homecoming" that convinced us at OELLE that the time had come to add Agata to our "Travel Notes."