Terrone is a pejorative term used by northern Italians to address and describe southern Italians. Rooted in the world “terra”, which means ground, terrone suggests the action of working the land by a poor and uneducated person. The reference to the ground is also connected with the color brown as a way to address the fact that people from the south of Italy have darker skin than people from the north. The term “terrona”, the female form of “terrone”, refers to the southern Italian woman. Famous twentieth-century movies, such as Marriage Italian Style (1964) with Sophia Lorenand Mamma Roma (1962) with Anna Magnani, created the stereotype of the terrona, propelling her into celebrity while also making her charming and lovable. These depictions thus serve only to reinforce the idea that the terrona is a chaotic person lacking intellectual and political agency.

According to these representations, the terrona makes guiding decisions and has authority only in the confinement of her domestic space. Her seductive body is a source of pleasure exclusively for the hetero sexual male needs: she is largely a subject of the male gaze. She leads a cloistered existence as it is only her close family members that benefit from her finely-honed skills to care for and protect the beloved. Unique from this depiction, the drawings composing this exhibition encourage the viewer to deconstruct the stereotype of terrona: to fantasize about a different and imaginative way to signify her.

According to this reconfiguration, the terrona’s aggressive and fiery temperament allows her to act ecologically: to govern the Mediterranean territory and to cultivate its natural elements. Brunetti’s drawings reveal how the terrona’s attractive and provocative body exceeds the enjoyment she is supposed to provide to the hetero sexual male. She becomes an autonomous agent of self-love that extends to the world around her. Her bond with the richness of the Mediterranean environment activates this ecstasy and joie de vivre. In addition to this, her talents of hospitality, usually kept for her family alone, invest her with the political and social authority to protect and preserve the natural resources of her environment.

Gallery