CROTONE – “Pagos was born in the heart of the city: it represented the castle, it represented the historic center of Crotone”. The brief and moving words of Antonio Arcuri, president of the Santa Critelli Foundation, opened the emotional ceremony with which a plaque dedicated to the Crotone artist Pagos, born Pietro Agostinelli, was discovered, placed at the entrance of the house in via Garibaldi 3 in the historic center of Crotone where the artist was born on 12 April 1944.
The initiative to remember Pagos, who passed away on 26 September 2023, was promoted by the ‘Santa Critelli’ Foundation, the Ecclesial Movement for Cultural Engagement (MEIC) and the ‘Nuji i subba u casteddru’ association. Pietro Agostinelli’s family members were present at the plaque unveiling ceremony: Sabina Pina Broccoletti, Domenico, Annalisa and Riziero Agostinelli.
The emotion of many present in the atrium of the building at the moment of the unveiling of the plaque was great: “Pagos must be remembered because he was and is the artist of the city, of the community. He does not belong to the family but to the people of Crotone. Those who are artists must be protected, because artists suffer and when they express themselves they give their soul. Any form of art must be protected and culture is the highest form that a civil state can have. Today institutions and art are here to protect Pagos as an artist.”
Participating were the culture councilor of the Municipality of Crotone, Nicola Corigliano, the master goldsmith Michele Affidato, the president of the Santa Critelli Foundation, Antonio Arcuri, Lucia Bellassai of the Meic and the members of the ‘Nuji i subba u casteddru’ group Antero Villaverde, Pino Perri and Roberto Trevisi.
The ceremony was enlivened by the notes of the Città di Crotone musical band.
Michele Affidato, now a goldsmith known throughout the world, recalled his relationship with Pagos when he was a child having been born in the same street. Roberto Trevisi of ‘Nuji i subba u casteddru’ highlighted the discovery of the pictorial art of Pagos.
Lucia Bellassai of the Meic underlined the artist’s social commitment in the last period with “passionate interventions in favor of truth and justice and attention towards the most fragile”. Councilor Nicola Corigliano reiterated that Pagos “sent messages with his literary and pictorial works”.
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The plaque at the birthplace of the Crotone artist Pagos has been discovered
