Parco delle bombosculture / Pria City (Bombosculpture Park)Angelo Stagnaro (b. 1940)

This park, in front of Angelo Stagnaro’s house, consists of more than 200 “bomboscultures,” imaginary and colorful figures positioned on several levels and at several heights. Stagnaro, a former worker in the shipyards, primarily uses metal gas cylinders for the bodies of his figures, which he finds abandoned in the rural woods. He sections, reassembles, and paints them, enriching them with details of nails, recycled materials, and tools. The figures are quirky, fun, and brightly painted; his colorful characters include Bombohidraulico, Bombomeccanico, and Pria (which means stone, and is Stagnaro’s nickname), along with historical figures.

The first metal creations were constructed in 2000 as storage and flower beds for the Museum Parma Gemma, a private museum of minerals named after Stagnaro’s mother that they located in their home and which opened in 1984. After the first flush of publicity and visitors for the new museum faded, because of unfinished projects and conflicts with institutional representatives, Stagnaro turned his attention to his iron characters, crowding them into the exterior space where the museum was to have expanded.

While many of the works are visible from beyond the fence fronting the street, for visits to the interior of the park, contact the owner through the town hall of Casarza Ligure.

~Gabriele Mina

www.costruttoridibabele.net

31 Via Annuti
Casarza Ligure, Liguria, 16030 it
Latitude/Longitude: 44.2721272 / 9.4472959

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