It’s the right weekend to go to Monferratothat part of Piedmont with a crumpled charm, with its rolling hills and red brick castles that stand out among the vineyards. Here the perfect beauty of the Langhe and the rough beauty of Cuneo are missing: Monferrato enchants those who are able to give it time and knows how to reserve surprises. Until Sunday, for example, Monferrato Panorama brings to these areas – in particular in the four municipalities of Countryside, Vignole, Montemagno, Castagnole – a splendid one widespread and free exhibition of ancient and contemporary art (the idea is to Italics, which brings together around seventy galleries with the idea of bringing art to unconventional spaces; last year, for example, they were in L’Aquila and we told you about it here).
Charles Falciani he took care of the project drawing a path in 4 stages, 16 locations and about sixty works that can be enjoyed even in a single day: the kilometers to do from one municipality to another are a handful, the landscape a delight. We propose it to you.
First stop in Camagna, the place of memories
It starts from Countryside, Just 460 inhabitants and a very efficient Proloco that will welcome you at the entrance to the village: go past the large square onto which the church overlooks (which is worth a visit for the large internal dome) and go at the former Cottolengo of the country, a piece of local history where «presences are still felt»Falciani told us. The visit inside will leave you breathless: in the small rooms the works of today’s artists (the sculptures of Joseph Hooksthe photos of Frank Vimercatithe compositions of Archangel Pebble) question us on the theme of roots and our identity, bringing to the surface ancient memories of these places (also look at the walls of the houses: you can still see writings from the fascist era). Also on display in the exhibition is an example of The civil conversationa text written by Stefano Guazzo, a diplomat of the time who lived right in these parts, at the end of the sixteenth century. Guazzo said that it is only through the dialogue that society can exist, because the individual cannot evolve in solitude. This essay by “ethics of dialogue”, written half a millennium ago and yet so current, inspired this widespread exhibition which continues in Vignale after Camagna.
Second stop in Vignale, the noble village
Here we are in Vignale, which has a natural terrace that deserves a beauty-break. From the main square you can access Callori Palacea recently renovated building of medieval origin, which houses a series of works dedicated to the theme of portrait and of theidentityin a perfect dialogue between ancient and contemporary works of art. Not to be missed, on the main floor, the installation full of light and mirrors with the photographic series of the Cuban artist Susana Pilarwhich portrays herself, her mother, the women of her family in festive clothes, in dialogue with a sixteenth-century painting: you walk in the space and enter the work, every surface also reflects our portrait. In the little church just outside, Patrick Tuttofuoco creates a headless self-portrait sculpture that suggests the idea of a metamorphosis.
Third stop in Montemagno, the castle of death
As soon as you leave Vignale, Montemagno appears in the distance after a few hairpin bends: you have to go straight to the castle. Even from here the view of the hills it is remarkable. This is the most poignant and intense stage of the journey: there are the rigged sculptures Of Francesco Vezzoli in the garden, the large sculpture in the shape of hot air balloon – an invitation to transcend time and space – of Marco Bagnoli and then you go down into the underground. You pass under the drawbridge to arrive in a space dotted with remarkable and poignant works, such as the mountain painted on a falling canvas by Latifa Echakhch. Leaving the castle, under the baroque church of the city, where there is still an ossuary, here are the works of Claire Fontaine to remind us that also the present is uncertain and the installation of Marzia Improves harpooning a boulder of salt into a glass case: what future is in store for humanity?
Fourth stop in Castagnole, the space of the Elsewhere
And here we are at chestnuts, a village that seems to have stopped a century ago, with the large social theater, the nursery school, the social wine shop. Even on this hill, the view is satisfying, in an alternation between woods and cultivated hills. Here you can experience art forms that are a little different from the usual, such as the play of light in the church of the Annunziata made by the French Michel Verjux. Not far away, in a building called the The Teacher’s House – because the village teacher lived there in the twentieth century – a still life of Giorgio Morandi dialogue in the living room with a sculpture of Fausto Melotti and a work of Claudio Parmesan. Old school desks And books worn out are everywhere in what is now a private home (it is owned by a Danish family). Our tour of “Panorama Monferrato” ends in the large space of the former Regina Elena asylum: the installation of Wintermute welcomes the public in the garden with its hypnotic sound, in the portico stands out a shining sculpture of Gio’ Pomodoro while on the top floor of the building Alfredo Pirri he built a floor of broken mirrors on which one cannot help but walk while the path ends in an apparently empty room that the artist Luke Vitone filled with a fragrance that mixes aromatic herbs with the acrid smell of eternit that has caused so much damage in these parts. Its immaterial sculpturemade of only smellsit’s called for eternityand it’s the perfect way to conclude this panoramic tour of Monferrato.
Source: Vanity Fair
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