“Ytalia: Energia Pensiero Bellezza,” Florence’s new Italian Contemporary art collective to open this summer |   May 2, 2017

The City of Florence—in collaboration with the Uffizi Gallery, Opera di Santa Croce, and Museo Marino Marini—announces “Ytalia: Energia Pensiero Bellezza,” one of the biggest collective Italian Contemporary art displays to date starting June 2 through October 1, 2017.

The event, conceived by world-renowned curator Sergio Risaliti, features key works by members of the 1960s Arte Povera movement including: Mario Merz, Giovanni Anselmo, Jannis Kounnellis, Luciano Fabro, Alighiero Boetti and Giulio Paolini. Collating the transgression of time between then and now, contemporary Olnick Spanu Art Program artists Remo Salvadori, Domenico Bianchi and Marco Bagnoli will expose exclusive, site-specific works for this exhibition.

Giotto's Bell Tower, Florence, Italy.
Florence from the view of Giotto’s Campanile in the city center.

“Ytalia is a great challenge for Florence: we gear up Forte Belvedere for another season of contemporary art with these 12 works by the greatest artists of our time but above all, we interlink eight extraordinary spaces including museums, gardens and places of civil and religious architecture, where the past coincides with the contemporary, for a unique participatory experience for Florentines and visitors alike,” said the City Mayor Dario Nardella.

Major historical landmarks across the city will host these pieces including: Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi Galleries, Basilica di Santa Croce, the Boboli Gardens, and Fort Belvedere, amongst others. This is an effort to create dialogue between the Florence of the Renaissance—a time when the city played a dominant role in the arts, patronism, and politics—with that of today; Italy has always been an important player in the international art scene, and the city aims to renew itself as a hub for Contemporary Italian art.

Alighiero Boetti, Mappe, 1983.
Alighiero Boetti, Lasciare il certo per l’incerto e viceversa, 1983.

While the pieces in this new display may not seem to have much in common at first glance, “Ytalia” focuses on finding the scope and connections of each work in relation to time, history and personal stories. The project highlights the evolution of comparisons and dialectical relations between the artists, as well as the common traits, shared values and substantial differences that underline them all. Most importantly, it celebrates the history of Italian art, in which Individualism continues to predominate today in an even greater experimental fashion.