The artistic-cultural association “To Ergasterion” based in Ciriè (Italy) derives its name from the  arts workshop in Ancient Greece (“ergasterion“, the most famous being Phidias’ in Olympia), a place where art is born.

The Association means to spread and promote art and culture and organize cultural activities (such as exhibitions, conferences, screenings, concerts, theatrical and dance performances).
The Association’s motto is “a different vision of the Arts“.

In the summer of 2017, two local artists, Mauro Proci and Salvatore Piazza, were looking for a couple spartan rooms where they could “make Art” undisturbed.
By pure chance they met Enrico Zaffiri, who had precisely those two very simple rooms available, inside a courtyard in downtown Ciriè, already blessed by the passage of the genius of the never-ending quest for beauty and in the shadow of the venerable
seventeenth-century Church of the Holy Spirit in Ciriè.

Thus, through a wonderful coincidence of fortuitous accidents and in an absolutely informal way, the “To Ergasterion” association was born.
On 15 February 2021, the three founding members formally established the Association “To Ergasterion”, approving the Articles of Association and the Statute and electing the first Board of Directors:
Mauro Proci as President, Salvatore Piazza as Vice-President and Enrico Zaffiri as Secretary.
As early as 2017, the Association opened the doors of the Ergasterion to the public with “Art under the Stars” on the occasion of the Notte Bianca in Ciriè.

Since 2019 it has begun to organize exhibitions and cultural events (so far five collective art exhibitions and three solo ones)
as well as having a theatrical “offshoot” (“Compagnia Ergasterion“), which since 2021 has produced four multi-art shows (in cooperation with Centro Danza Ciriè A.S.D.): “Amadé-Ich bin ein Musikus” (on the life and works of W.A.Mozart), “Elektra” (the myth of Agamemnon’s daughter in the form of the ancient greek tragedy), “La Materia dei Sogni” (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”), “Il Gioco degli Dei” (three famous female mythological characters meet and discuss about their sad destiny). New productions are in the making.

A youTube channel provides short video excerpts of the past productions.

To Ergasterion is also very active in the publishing arena (non-fiction such as essays on Medea and a in-depth critical biography of W.A.Mozart, novels, poetry) and issuing every month the online cultural “Quaderno” of the same name, now in its eighth year.