Opening: Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 18:00 am, Piazza Jacopo Landino, Pratovecchio Stia (AR)
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Click here to download the invitation and press kit.
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Those who live in Pratovecchio Stia tell the story of a place where material and spiritual culture intertwine—a historical land of prayer and forest economies that today cultivates a renewed relationship with the woods. The artwork is inspired by a quiet presence in the Casentino forests: the hermit beetle (Osmoderma eremita), a rare insect that lives in the hollow trunks of fallen trees. Mostly invisible throughout the year, it reveals itself only in summer, when it releases a powerful pheromone designed to attract and be found. Una Boccata d’Arte takes place during its emergence and mating season: in this time of fertility and connection—when the event aligns with the beetle’s life cycle—even the village seems to be “in love,” in a state of openness and attraction. The artist imagines an olfactory diffuser sculpture installed in the disused fountain of Piazza Vecchia. The work does not alter the existing structure but inhabits it—just like the insect inside the tree trunk. Visitors are invited to collect the scent using small sticks made from local wood.
The public program is organized in collaboration with the Casentinesi Forests National Park.
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Artwork
01. Stella Rochetich, gli alberi non vagano, 2025, scent-diffusing sculpture on inactive public furniture, wood, scent (y-decalactone), 70 x 70 x 70 cm.Piazza Jacopo Landino, Pratovecchio Stia (AR)
Pratovecchio Stia (AR)
28.06.2025
Piazza Jacopo Landino
16:00
THE VILLAGE'S LIFESPAN SEEKS TO ALIGN WITH THE FOREST'S RHYTHM.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Stella Rochetich (Rome, Italy, 1997) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Rome. In 2018, she earned her BA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where she also completed her MA in Painting in 2021. That same year, she co-founded the artist-run space Porto Simpatica. Her research focuses primarily on the sense of smell, understood as an invisible thread weaving new imaginaries, where memory, identity, relationships, and archives intertwine. In 2024, she participated in the fourth edition of Lab For New Imaginations at MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome and in the group exhibition Great Expectations at SPAZIOMENSA, both in Rome. Between 2024 and 2025, she is an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale Des Arts in Paris.
Pratovecchio Stia, home to the Parco Nazionale delle Foreste Casentinesi, stands near the source of the Arno river. A land of castles, Romanesque churches, Della Robbia terracottas, and ancient forests, it preserves important medieval landmarks such as the Torre di Porciano, Castello di Romena—mentioned by Dante—and the Palagio Fiorentino, now a venue for contemporary art.
Its architecture reflects a deep spiritual history, seen in the Monastero di San Giovanni Evangelista and the Propositura del SS. Nome di Gesù. Nearby, the Pieve di San Pietro a Romena is among the finest examples of Casentino Romanesque style.
Stia’s center is marked by Piazza Tanucci and the Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta, which houses works by Bicci di Lorenzo and Andrea della Robbia, also featured in the Santuario di Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The historic Lanificio di Stia, now the Wool Art Museum, celebrates the iconic Panno Casentino. Other notable sites include the Molin di Bucchio, the first Arno mill, and Lago degli Idoli, an ancient Etruscan sanctuary. Local specialties include Abbucciato Aretino cheese, honey, and Slow Food-certified Casentino prosciutto.
Gabriele Tosi (IT, 1987) is a cultural curator and manager. He combines theoretical and organizational insight with an experimental and hands-on approach. He co-manages the organizations Toast Project in Florence and Megadue in Bologna, active in the independent scene. He curates “Climatica” (Alchemilla, Bologna) and he teaches at Istituto Marangoni in Florence.
Among his exhibitions: Italia Zokugo (Italian Cultural Institute, Tokyo), Adesso no (Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence), and Mezz’aria (Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia).
For Una Boccata d'Arte, she curated the projects of Theodoulos Polyviou in Fosdinovo (2023) and Villiam Miklos Andersen in Serre di Rapolano, a hamlet of Rapolano Terme (2024), in Tuscany.