In Volterra, a programme of initiatives is under way to celebrate that the walled town south-west of Florence has become Tuscany’s first city of culture 2022: from 11 to 17 July, for Volterra XXII, the city will host several thematic events, ranging from art to music. “Volterra is restarting and betting on its enormous human capital,” reads an excerpt from the event concept, “triggering a great participatory process of enhancement and promotion of the existing, and connecting it with innovation and the future, feeding the small and large creative sparks that are ignited there every day, creating a great network that extends to the entire territory and Tuscany. The Volterra22 programme wants to be a great project of participatory culture, providing an overall sense of the excellence and specificity of the territory: a territory that has made human regeneration the focus of its social and cultural proposal”. Among the key events is the unveiling of a new work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, scheduled for tomorrow at the Pinacoteca Civica at Piazza Minucci 7 in Volterra: it is La scala del Terzo Paradiso (The Ladder of the Third Paradise), a work that stems from the dialogue and comparison between the beauty and genius of the Mannerist artist Rosso Fiorentino and the innovation and strength of the message of the founder of Cittadellarte.

Michelangelo Pistoletto’s work is placed in dialogue with Rosso Fiorentino’s Deposition, mirroring its scenic force and expressive tension with the trinamic symbol suspended on a ladder; the ladder, an element also appearing in the Deposition, thus becomes the protagonist of the dualism of ascending/descending. “The symbol of the Third Paradise,” explain the organisers, “illustrates the formula of creation, which, born from art, brings new meanings to sacred symbols, in coherence with the scientific development of knowledge. To human tragedy, the artist contrasts balance, harmony and peace”.
In the work, the yellow combines with the red of the fabrics to make orange, which would not exist without the union of the two original colours. In Pistoletto’s Third Paradise, the orange and red present in Rosso Fiorentino’s Deposition become second-hand and discarded clothes that bring us back to the idea of society. The rope takes on a sense of dynamic energy, as a tool for raising the symbol of creation upwards. The Ladder of the Third Paradise can be viewed from Friday 15 July to Tuesday 1 November from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm; behind the scenes of the artistic proposal are the Municipality of Volterra, Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto and Galleria Continua.