On the evening of July 10, in the evocative setting of the village of Castagneto Carducci, the exhibition Arte diffusa sulla costa toscana was inaugurated, an open-air project that weaves together contemporary art, landscape, and memory. The protagonist of this inaugural edition is Giuseppe Bergomi, a sculptor from Brescia, whose works explore the human figure as a place of truth, intimacy, and lived time.
The first part of the inauguration took place in the heart of the village, in Piazzale Belvedere, which was transformed for the occasion into a space for dialogue between art and landscape. Here, visitors could admire some of the exhibition’s most emblematic works: Ellisse, one of three new sculptures created specifically by Bergomi for the project, and Cronografia di un corpo, a reflection on the form and experience of the human body. These are accompanied by Grande coppia su parallelepipedo and Cubo con figure che guardano in alto. In this open space, overlooking the Tuscan landscape, the sculptures stand out not for their monumentality, but for their emotional intensity, inviting listening, pause, and reflection.
The project was presented by curator Paola Maria Formenti, the mind behind the entire initiative, who introduced the origin and purpose of the exhibition.
Formenti emphasized how Arte diffusa sulla costa toscana is a project “consolidated during Covid”, born in response to the need to rediscover open spaces, distance, and the breath of real places. “To become a fully realized project,” she stated, “it took the master Giuseppe Bergomi,” describing him as “a cultured man, an artist who unites concept and form, and gives form with his own talented hands.”
She also recalled a German word particularly dear to her: Kunst, which means both “art” and “beauty”, a term she identifies with and which embodies the spirit of her curatorial vision.
According to Formenti, the exhibition’s value is based on three pillars: the strength of the body of work, with 16 main sculptures and 9 smaller ones; the presence of three site-specific works created by Bergomi specifically for the occasion; and finally, the prestige of the institutional loans, including one from the Fondazione Brescia Musei, confirming the exhibition’s credibility and importance.
Lastly, curator Paola Maria Formenti expressed her heartfelt thanks to the wineries Poggio al Tesoro, Terre dei Ghelfi, and Argentiera, whose support made the project possible. Different realities, united by a common vision: supporting culture as a shared value and a living experience within the territory.
The mayors of Castagneto Carducci and Casale Marittimo, present at the inauguration, reiterated the importance of culture as a driver of cohesion, identity, and renewal for historic villages.
A particularly powerful moment was the speech by Giuseppe Bergomi himself. The artist spoke with depth and authenticity, challenging the expectations of a traditional explanatory talk:
“I don’t want to communicate anything,” he declared. “I don’t want to say anything, because I believe that art, especially figurative art, is not a form of communication. The artist is a mediator of impulses, of feelings that cannot be defined in any other way. I’ve had only a few ideas in my life, two or three, that have slowly allowed me to build a language.”
That language developed from a fundamental intuition: a sculpture rooted in everyday life, in lived experience, in emotional perception. “My works always emerge in relation to people. Sometimes it takes time, even months. But at a certain point, that need explodes.”
During his speech, Bergomi also spoke about the origin of Colazione a letto, one of the most intimate pieces in the exhibition, on display in Casale Marittimo: a large terracotta bed featuring his family, born from a simple domestic gesture and realized in terracotta precisely for the material’s evocative power.
He concluded by reflecting on sculpture as an act of resistance against death, as a form that seeks, even if consciously illusory, to eternalize life. And he made it clear that his works are not installations, but organic structures: plastic organisms endowed with expressive and emotional autonomy.
The evening continued with a guided walk through the village to discover the sculptures installed throughout: Geometrie descrittive 3, placed in Via Vittorio Emanuele in front of the Town Hall; Ilaria with cat, in Piazza della Gogna; and finally Africa con violocello, inside Palazzo Espinassi Moratti, a life-size sculpture first presented at the Venice Biennale in 2011, accompanied by small figures that depict the body as an emotional, symbolic, and vibrant space.
The evening concluded on the panoramic terrace of the palazzo, with a toast accompanied by wines from Poggio al Tesoro, Terre dei Ghelfi, and Argentiera, as the sun gently set behind the silhouettes of the Gorgona and Elba islands, casting a golden light across the sky.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
When: 10 July – 3 November 2025
Where:
Bolgheri
Sagrato della Chiesa di Bolgheri – Piazza Teresa
Castagneto Carducci
Piazzale Belvedere Curiel – Via Vittorio Emanuele
Piazza della Gogna
Via Vittorio Emanuele (davanti al municipio)
Palazzo Espinassi Moratti – via Giosuè Carducci 59
Casale Marittimo
La Canonica – Via del Castello
Oratorio di San Sebastiano – Piazza del Popolo
Il Coppaio – Via della Ferrana
