La via dell’arte [The Street of Art]Mario Del Sarto (b. 1925)

Del Sarto has lived his life in and around the Apuan mountain range in northern Tuscany: for many years he worked as a carpenter, laborer, and machinist on the railroads utilized for the transportation of marble from Carrara and environs. From the 1970s on, he devoted himself to his own sculpture, and created an impressive open air museum by populating the entire side of a mountain with hundreds of large marble figures. The subject matter of these figures is quite varied: there are biblical characters as well as those from history; there are also workers, faces, and a nativity scene. Some have been painted, and others remain the original white or grey of the local stone.

Some of the sculptures are located along two sides of the road between Bedizzano and Colonnata, and are often identified or commented on with a title or phrases to label the works. Del Sarto also built a work called the Fountain of Knowledge, in which the quarry train is featured; there is also a Wall of Life, with painted bas-relief shapes that emerge from the wall. Other sculptures in stone and wood are presented in a small workshop nearby.

The open-air museum is frequented by tourists who come to the Apuan Alps, although the changing road conditions have made it less visible than earlier; as it is located on the side of a stream, it has suffered damage due to floods, most recently in 2003 and 2013.

Despite the difficulties, Del Sarto continues to conceptualize and create new pieces for his Via dell’arte.

~Gabriele Mina

www.costruttoridibabele.net

Bedizzano, Toscana, 54033 it
Latitude/Longitude: 44.0786473 / 10.1244664

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