Leucosia

one of the three Sirens of ancient Greek mythology

Commissioner: Vittorio Sgarbi , curated by Simona Capodimonti - Premio Pio Alferano Prize

"Leucosia" is a large-scale freehand spray mural painted in 2017 on the exterior wall of a building on Via Adolfo Cilento in Castellabate, Cilento, for the Premio Pio Alferano — the award of the Fondazione Pio Alferano. The work has entered the permanent collection of the foundation and is the first mural ever executed in Castellabate. The subject is Leucosia — one of the three Sirens of ancient Greek mythology, whose name in Greek means "the white one." Ancient tradition placed her domain precisely here, off the Cilento coast. Strabo writes that sailors navigating the Gulf of Poseidonia would sight the island of Leucosia, named after the Siren who, as legend has it, plunged into the sea after failing to enchant Ulysses. The promontory of Punta Licosa, a frazione of Castellabate, takes its name from her. Neve painted Leucosia where she belongs. The figure is seen in her natural element, underwater — blonde hair floating freely in the current, lips sensual, her body wrapped in a gauzy, semi-transparent costume that reveals her form and gradually gives way to a tail with silver-reflective scales. She holds a rare pearl between her fingers in a gesture that is almost a blessing: a mysterious prize for the lucky hero who understands the secrets of nature. Above her, light filters from the surface, breaking into rays that descend through the water in the way light actually moves in depth — the Caravaggesque naturalism that is the foundation of Neve's technique rendered at building scale. Fish move in the upper register, in the deep blue-dark above. The critical essay by Simona Capodimonti identifies in the image a moment of suspension: whether it shows Leucosia concentrating her powers of seduction before the conquest, or retreating into the depths wounded in pride after the failure to enchant Ulysses, the image holds both possibilities without resolving them. What is certain is a moment of intimate reflection — the Siren in all her radiant beauty, modulated between light and shadow. The work demonstrates Neve's ability to transform a mythological-religious figure of Greek origin into a Diva, a marine divinity, while endowing her with human emotions — making her more earthly and more present. In this image of formal perfection and suggestive beauty, the natural and the supernatural, the physical and the metaphysical, the real and the plausible coexist; air and water compensate each other in the suspended, elegant gesture of the pearl held between the hands of Leucosia — a pause of reflection in the melodious symphony that recites ut pictura poesis. The project was made possible by the collaboration between Francesco Favilla (who conceded the wall), the Fondazione Pio Alferano and Virginia Ippolito (who promoted it), and the Comune di Castellabate (which hosted the initiative).