Light Between the Islands background by Grimanesa Amoros
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CETHA

Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amorós CETHA, 15 x 10 x 5-foot public art LED sculpture and light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, Palazzo Colesanti, Viterbo, Italy, 2019. Named after the Etruscan word for "sun," red and rose LED tubing blazes at the top of the town's steep pedestrian bridge, greeting and bidding farewell to every visitor, its dawn-colored light sequence honoring the ancient Etruscans who founded this UNESCO-recognized hilltop city. Light sculpture by Grimanesa Amorós.
Grimanesa Amoros video thumbnail for CETHA

Location: Palazzo Colesanti | Viterbo, Italy, 2019
15 ft x 10 ft x 5 ft (4.57 m x 3.05 m x 1.52 m)
LEDs, reflective material, custom lighting sequence, and electrical hardware.

CETHA is a light sculpture installed at the entrance of Civita di Bagnoregio, a UNESCO-recognized hilltop town in Viterbo built by the ancient Etruscans, with its red and rose LED sequence named after the Etruscan word for “sun” and conceived as a living tribute to the light that has defined this extraordinary place for millennia.

  • Created through the Civita Institute NE Chapter Fellowship Award, a cultural exchange program between the United States and Italy, CETHA marks Amorós’s first public commission in Italy, placing her practice within one of Europe’s most historically layered landscapes.
  • Amorós conceived the work after waking one morning during her residency and being struck by the force of sunlight radiating across the square, prompting her to research the Etruscans, the ancient civilization that founded Civita di Bagnoregio and whose cultural traces persist throughout the town to this day.
  • The sculpture greets visitors at the entrance of the town at the top of a steep pedestrian bridge, the only point of access to the hilltop, making CETHA the first and last artwork encountered in the experience of the site.
  • The red and rose tones of CETHA’s lighting sequence represent the burning red of dawn and the way early morning light spreads across the town’s ancient towers, translating an atmospheric phenomenon into a permanent luminous presence.
  • The work received coverage in PaeseRoma, Verso L’Arte, and La Mia Citta News (all 2019), affirming its resonance within both the Italian cultural press and the international conversation around art, heritage, and site-specificity.

    • Radiating with an ethereal luminosity, the strength of the sun cascades off the hallowed grounds of Civita di Bagnoregio square, transcending the boundaries of time itself to reach back to the ancient Etruscans, the masterful architects who forged this extraordinary city.

    The enduring echoes of their enigmatic culture intertwine with the vibrant pulse of CETHA, a lighting sculpture by Grimanesa Amoros, named after the Etruscan word for “sun.” CETHA is found at the entrance of this historical town, where past and present gracefully converge, with its main motif being the intense sun that highlights the town’s small towers to this day.

    CETHA beckons visitors to partake in an immersive communion with the rich heritage of this town, forging a profound connection that reverberates through the ages.