Art at our boutique hotel – experience it up close

Born in 1948 in Nove near Vicenza, Mariano Fuga studied at the Academy of Ceramic Arts in Nove and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he attended sculpture classes with Alberto Viani. Since the 1970s, Fuga has been a welcome presence at national and international exhibitions. His sculptures and contemporary ceramic masterpieces have earned praise even from the toughest critics. He has received multiple prestigious awards for his ceramic sculptures.

Like scenes in a theatrical play, each sculpture presents a mini drama, turning the exhibition into a thoroughly coherent work of art. One of Fuga’s most striking achievements is how he redefines body language – giving a new, joyful significance, for example, to outstretched arms, once seen only as a sign of despair.

Paolo Staccioli was born in 1943 in Scandicci, near Florence. In the 1970s, he initially devoted himself to painting. His need to experiment with new forms of artistic expression brought him to Faenza in the early 1990s, where he discovered his love of ceramics. At the beginning of the new millennium, Staccioli finally transferred his moulds into bronze casts, without ever neglecting his preference for studying and working with clay.
His masterpieces are captivating: A few travellers in colourful dresses with suitcases stand out from the crowd, eagerly anticipating a journey they will never take. They are placed atop rounded vases, destined never to leave their assigned spot – a fate they share with the impatient horses below, longing to gallop freely into the unknown. Staccioli’s handling of spatial dimensions, often compressed by small embossed motifs of horses, is revealed in the armour of his stoic bronze and ceramic warriors. Fighters who, though they may yearn for a place they have never known, will neither return there nor march into battle – despite being armed with spears and shields. Likewise, those huddled together in small boats will never feel solid ground beneath them. Nor will those seated in tank-like wagons, without legs or lower body, ever be called into action – waiting in vain.