The Grande Cretto Gibellina is the largest work of art realized by Alberto Burri. It covers a surface of 86,000 square metres above the rubble of the town of Gibellina (Trapani) destroyed by the catastrophic earthquake that struck the Belìce Valley in January 1968.

In 1980, Burri and other well-known artists from the international contemporary scene, were invited to Gibellina Nuova by the honourable Ludovico Corrao, mayor of the town, to create works as a gift to the new town, rebuilt around 20 kilometres away from the original site. The Maestro accepted the invitation but he preferred to intervene on the ruins of the old town, planning to cover the rubble of a large part of the town with a white concrete cast, gathered in blocks and held together by wire mesh (with a maximum height of 160 cm), leaving the cracks free to trace the main roads of the pre-existing urban layout.

The construction of this imposing work, which began in 1985 and was interrupted in 1989 when it reached 66,000 square metres, was completed in 2015 on the occasion of the Centenary of the Birth of Burri according to his design and will.