Peter Lanyon was the only native-born Cornishman of the post-war St Ives group of artists, and his work reflected the local landscape with a painterly experimentation unmatched by his peers.

Surprisingly, a little-known relationship with Italy informed some of his best work done in Cornwall. In January 1953 he returned to the country he found so stimulating, travelling to Rome on an Italian Government scholarship, with the intention of spending four months based in the region. While exploring the countryside with notable scholar Heinz Inlander he came across Anticoli Corrado and was immediately drawn to the medieval hill town.

Like St Ives, Anticoli was a small, steep city which had a significant history as a haven for artists, and although by 1953 few remained, it had recently been a base for a number of leading Italian figures, including Massimo Campigili and Giuseppe Capagrossi. Lanyon set up a base in Anticoli for the remainder of his stay, renting a house with Inlander until the end of April.

‘… Anticoli is superb. A St Just of the Arbuzzi. I went there with the Rome Scholar. We arrived at about 3:30pm half way up the mountain and had to walk down to the valley and up the other side to Anticoli. Approaching was like going towards the mouth of some grim monster, behind was Piero’s landscape and Mantegna. The climb up was a sharp zig zag in between houses for which there seems to be no level. Lamps and charcoal fires were alight in the houses and one saw faces peeping out of doors like we have in Island Road …’ (Peter Lanyon, Lanyon Family Archive, reprinted in Toby Treves, 'Peter Lanyon', Catalogue Raisonné, Modern Art Press, London, 2018, p.270)

While remaining deeply rooted to his native Cornwall, throughout his career Lanyon was aware of, and engaged with, international art movements, particularly the American abstract expressionists, and travelled on both the continent and in the US. Lanyon’s periods away from Cornwall often proved inspiring and restorative, leading to critical developments in his work. He was particularly drawn to Italy, having first visited the country during his war service, and returning in 1948 and 1950. Italy was an important point of reference for Lanyon, and indeed he was inordinately proud of the fact that he had only ever spent one day in Paris.

He rented ‘Studio Cicarelli’ which was on the track that led to the village of Saracinesco. He was to remain there for just over three months, leaving in early May. Though its artistic heyday was on the wane by the 1950s, Anticoli Corrado still had many artists' studios at its disposal and was very similar in atmosphere to St.Ives. The British connection was strengthened in being the home of the director of the British School in Rome, which was frequented by British artists.

Lanyon found the release from Cornwall inspiring. His stay in the town and exploration of the surrounding region represented a return to a more primitive way of life, the recovery of lost traditions and human relations and, as a consequence, a renewed interest in myth.

His palette opened up to reveal stronger, more sensuous colours. In his pocket diary for 1953 Lanyon notes down that he has made 24 gouaches and drawings while in Italy that winter.

Lanyon took very well to Italy, having spent several years there during the war and in 1948 and 1950, and even described it as his 'second home'. Lanyon returned to Anticoli Corrado in 1957.