Casole d'Elsa: an open-air museum

The experience

In
Casole d’Elsa
, works of art are not only contained in the
Civic Museum
and in the various ateliers, but also live on its streets. Just get to the entrance of the village to be able to admire the installation named after Gino Bartali, conceived by Duccio Santini and created by Luca Ferrini on the occasion of the Giro d’Italia which in 2019 also passed through here.

Near the center there are various tiles and murals painted by the students of local schools under the guidance of Giuseppe Ciani, a Roman painter and sculptor who has been working in the Sienese area for over fifty years; his is also the warm Benvenuti a Casole visible in the elevator shaft that leads to the center.

Sculptures in the center of Casole

As soon as you exit the elevator, in addition to enjoying a magnificent view, we find A Sweet Eternal Embrace, the bronze sculpture by Andrea Roggi, which represents an olive tree in whose trunk two lovers are carved at the moment of embrace. Here you can also see the works of the sculptor Nelson Salvestrini, an installation by Giampiero Muzzi and the works of Riccardo Pucci.

Next to the Rocca Senese there are several marble and bronze sculptures. The first are the work of the English artist Nigel Konstam, who moved to Casole in the 80s where he opened not only his own atelier, but also the Verrocchio Art Center: a school in which budding artists from all over the world participate. On the other hand, the second works in bronze have the signature of Giuseppe Ciani, also author of the famous sculpture of the Two Lovers, now a symbol of Casole.

The artists’ ateliers

The whole center of Casole is adorned with tiles painted by different artists, small treasures to be discovered while walking through the streets, without missing a visit to their ateliers. Along the main street is Martabì’s pottery workshop, as well as Linda Leupold’s studio and the iSculpture gallery.

In Via San Niccolò, on the other hand, there is the atelier of Anna Morandi who, with her husband Mario Mancini , animated the premises of the ancient bakery in Casole; shortly afterwards there is the studio of the sculptor Paolo Morandi, author of Il Dubbio, which was presented by Philippe Daverio. For those who want to learn art, all the artists also organize painting classes for adults and children.