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What and where was your first encounter with art? How did they ignite your passion to personally restore and renew a community through arts?

A.P. At the age of 21, I decided to use the fortune left by my father (he was a public works contractor who worked hand in glove with local politicians and Cosa Nostra bosses), to combat the mafia system on the island by investing in culture. What was the easy way? To donate beauty to my Sicily. I have spent a fortune for my art and cultural activities, but this is my feeling, my mission, my life. A lot of people consider me a fool. But if donating beauty means being a fool, then I’ll happily be one.

What initially inspired your first project La fiumara d’arte, the biggest sculpture park in Europe? How many site specific sculptures were created by Italian and international artists and where are they erected?

A.P. In a gesture of great affection I decided to honour my father’s memory with something visible, something important, something everlasting. This something turned out to be a sculpture by Pietro Consagra, 20 meters high, made of reinforced concrete, put in a mythical site, in the valley of the Tusa river, a wide torrent which in summer runs dry revealing a riverbed of stones and wild flowers and, in winter, when its waters rush, they lap at the sculpture’s base.’ All this has now become history.

The artists I choose must be or fall in love with Sicily. During the realisation of the work of art, they have to stay in Sicily and live in my Art Hotel, which is my house. During this period the artists become completely convinced of my vision of art: art, nature and daily life as
one whole.

Although here in Sicily, another site exists managed by the Italian state that is ambitiously financed and hosts a huge number of sculptures in the town of Gibellina. Other sites, Peggy Guggenheim the garden in Venice, Il Parco-Museo Pagani in Varese, Museo Burri in Citta’ di Castello, Fattoria di Celle in Prato and others. But they are different from my reality.

Where does this satisfaction come from?

A.P. My life mission is to mark my land, Sicily, with the presence of numerous artists and personalities from the cultural milieu gathered there from all over the world, and create a perfect fusion with the local population. I like to offer culture and beauty without asking anything in return. It’s a gift I have, it’s my nature. But doing this in Sicily is subversive. When you ask nothing in return, nobody bump you off. The politicos can’t censor you. The Church can’t rein you in. For more than 30 years I have been lavishing the bulk of my money on artistic projects, I seek to help people respect their patch and rediscover their identity through art.

Your artistic projects extend far beyond Sicily’s local borders. Hotel Atelier Sul Mare has 14 artists’ signature rooms created by Italian and international artists. How did you select the artists for the project? Did you consider the idiosyncratic character of Sicily as a factor in these decisions? What was the longest time an artist took to finish creating his room?

A.P. For my visionary personality and having devoted much of my life to art, transforming everyday space into a masterpiece in which
to live, is a recurring thought. So much so that since 1988, when I asked Mario Ceroli to design the first art room in my hotel facing the sea at Castel di Tusa, I have never stopped experimenting. Year after year, artist after artist, and now the masterpiece rooms of the Atelier sul Mare are 22 (actually the Art Hotel Atelier sul Mare has 22 international artists signature): spaces of great poetic intensity
that enchant, enthuse, and enthrall visitors from all over the word. I like to meet first the artist and see if he understand my though, my mission, my utopia, therefore he can take possession of the space as if it’s a canvas, a block of marble, making it material for
creative work.

The character of Sicily doesn’t belong to me; the current political situation in Sicily is not my business. Art that is nothing but aesthetic appearance doesn’t interest me. Artistic action has to move people, to change their lives.

What do you think of Sicily’s contemporary art scene in?

A.P. Public contemporary art is not absent in Sicily, the state ambitiously financed a huge number or large sculptures in the town of Nuova Gibellina, rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed the original town in the 1960s. We have other public reality such as Palazzo Valle in Catania e Palazzo Belmonte Riso in Palermo. I’m a private person, I’m an artist, I’m a utopic person, and I use another way to offer art.

What other trends in art making prompted you to create a foundation?

A.P. My Foundation embrace all trends in art, my assistants and I spend a lot of time at school to educate the students on how understand the beauty through art projects that involve poetry, painting, sculptures, video, photography, art installation, etc. I want to restore them to their civic rights, help them to respect their patch, to find their identity and their pride through beauty.

Could you explain how arts can make a positive contribution to people who have little or nothing to do with art?

A.P. I like to work in large popular suburbs, originally planned as a modern, functional part of the city. But this new city districts are today soulless, they consist of mass dormitory housing. This is why I want to bring out the beauty of the place, observing its “whole” from an exalted and alternative standpoint.

Actually I’m working on a project called Terzocchio (The third eye) an “International Monumental Museum of Photography” at Catania, in the “working-class” district of Librino (a 1970’s urban development on the outskirts of the city, consisting of “mass dormitory housing”). The main action is constituted by a series of aesthetic projects on some buildings that have been identified based on their structure and geographic placing; contemporaneously, a permanent exposition space of the photographic and multimedia image.

The development of the Museum will be realised in blocks of 10 building walls, extended in many others distances articulated inside Librino area, creating therefore an itinerary to be covered by car involving the entire peripheral area. The 100 walls that illuminated in the night will give a new face of the city, of a new conscience, of a universal light, will testify that there is no dark, there is no deficiency: there is always the light and, even during the night there will be always the sun. The museum will be donated to the city of Catania and will be realized with private funds only.

Third eye - Meridians of light is directed to the beauty like a means in order to acquire the right to the citizenship and to find again the identity through the pride of being citizens, promoting the respect of Librino’s territory (to redesign the area in its urban aspect in order to give it back with a new role of a central position regarding the polis) and the respect to the inhabitants (to express the identity with the beauty asserting the consciousness to be beautiful and donating a "history" that pulls down the anonymity of the consciences, common problematic of all the suburbs of our contemporary time). The mission of Terzocchio will be to transform the state of malaise into a state of trust, of joy for life, of belonging to the place.

The great blank walls of the buildings, free as they are from decoration and architectural features, will become the exhibition spaces of the International Museum of Photography. In this way, Librino will no longer be just a dormitory district - one whose identity Catania today still refuse to recognise, because it lacks any point, either of reference or of social meeting. When the walls with their huge photographs lit up in the night giving back to the district its “positive”, the ninety thousand inhabitants of Librino, the visitors and the tourists, will witness the “revelation of beauty”. Thrilled and happy to wander up and down the streets, they will on the one hand admire the gigantic open air museum, while on the other, with love in their eyes, they will discover a hitherto unknown Catania.

The selected photographs will remain on display for two years, and then they will be used to form the Permanent Museum of Photography. This will be a space for culture, a mirror of our daily lives, of our “being a person”. So the testimony to an important socio-historical moment will not be lost. The project is not an art representation; all the inhabitants of the suburb are involved. Today, artist Reza Deghati (one of the most cited photographer of National Geographic) is guiding 20 Sicilian Photographers to educate students and inhabitants of Librino on how to use a digital camera. They will realize 30.000 shots on the Librino territory (inhabitants, buildings, schools, recreation facilities, etc.) that will be shown in digital panel located all around the suburb.

Do you think the arts should become less reliant upon government funding?

A.P. Utopia is not something that cannot be realized, it’s what a system doesn’t want be realized. Having government funding means to be submissive, caged, enslaved of a system. I have never asked anything from the government, that is why I have been attacked and persecuted by the local institution for years.

Going back to 1990, even though I had the permission by the mayors of the towns where the sculptures are located, to realize the work of art, five judiciary actions were set against my Fiumara works and the intricate legal business began, that stopped the completion of the park, which should also have involved the realisation of work of arts by major artists such as Eduardo Chillida, Fausto Melotti and Arnaldo Pomodoro. The mayors withdrew their support and I was left alone to face the law, although the press and the world of art were on my side. There was also an inquiry from the Italian Parliament, who asked the Minister for the cultural and Environmental Heritage to “act with a major urgency to stop the attack and persecution by the local institution to my person.

However, on 2 July 1990 the magistrate of Santo Stefano di Camastra, ordered the demolition of Consagra’s work and sentenced me to fifteen days imprisonment and a fine of 23 million of lire for having violated the Galasso Law, to which the sentence gave a restrictive interpretation. Anyway, the sculpture was not demolished since I appealed, and at the time of the appeal sentence by the Messina court the crime was prescribed. The president of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi took part in the appeal, and finally, on 6 January 2006 after 25 years of battle, the Park of Fiumara d’Arte is recognised, with the help of the regional Government who has approved the institution of the cultural and tourist path of Fiumara d' Arte (Regional Law 6/06 titled "tourist-enjoyment valorisation and conservation sculptures of Fiumara d'Arte"). The word "end" of this vicissitude, seals not only the commitment of my life, but a political success of
the art.

Could you say that your foundation has inspired other people to sponsor art? What about people who don’t have the money, what other ways can they support a foundation?

A.P. Private Sponsorship can give a valid support to a foundation. There are a lot of organization that promotes the connection between fundraising and art projects. In addition, I always recommend developing projects for the schools that can provide funds based on their yearly budget. In order to have a support, it’s necessary to have a project written, a willing team, and the spirit of enterprise.

What is your strategy toward the continuation of Fondazione Antonio Presti - Fiumara d'Arte in the following years?

A.P. I want to continue to work with the schools, the students, the youths are our future. My mission is a sowing that wants a sowing as result. My mission doesn’t want an end but a continuous wish to do things in order to let grow the consciences of people. Art and culture are my instruments, the beauty is my devotion. My next projects are the following:

Opening of International museum of the image - Third eye Meridians of light

The Armed of the 1000 soldiers of Light 1000 statues of terracotta with the faces of 1000 students of Librino that become soldiers of light for the salvation of the children in the world.

La porta di luce (The gate of light) The artist Hidetoshi Nagasawa, together with 2000 students, will realize a monumental sculpture at the entrance of Librino suburb.

Oreto river Park Park of sculptures along the path of Oreto river (Altofonte - Monreale - Palermo)

Searching of water sources Park of sculptures in the Madonie Valley (Sicily)

Art Hotel Atelier sul Mare Realization of others 18 art rooms.

If you had the freedom to do your ideal project, anything, anywhere, no money limitations or rules what would you do?

A.P. I think in today's world, art is a value and that needs to be promoted. It was just a matter of finding the right way to bring that out and make contact with ordinary people. Therefore I would like to be always beside young people and involve the children, the students in school project. I want them to work together with the artists in order to know the beauty, and share the realisation of creating works of art. I believe that beauty is possible for everyone, even those who never had a chance to prove what they are worth. I only ask one thing to the young people: to feel beautiful.