Forme nel verde
Established in 1971, this sculpture festival is held in one of Italy’s most evocative gardens.
Forme nel verde is an international exhibition of contemporary sculpture which takes place every year from July to October in San Quirico d’Orcia’s Horti Leonini , one of Italy’s most renowned and unique natural parks. It was Mario Guidotti who, in 1971, came up with the idea, with the main purpose of bringing art to life as well as making it more accessible to the public and day-to-day life, bringing it away from stuffy museums. For Mario Guidotti it was inevitable to imagine concrete sculptures – the best expression of contemporary art – immersed in a sea of green, ruffled by the geometrical lines characteristic of a typical Italian garden, elements that could only be found in Horti Leonini, a wonderful example designed by Diomede Leoni supposedly based on Michelangelo’s drawings.
The winning formula of the dozens and dozens of editions of the “Bringing artworks into the greenery” exhibition has brought a large number of works by some of the most prestigious names of Italian and international sculpture right into the heart of the Val d’Orcia, from Costantino Nivola to Augusto Perez, from Sinisca to Kurt Laurenz Metzler, from Tagliolini to Spender and Ogata.
Art becomes thereby an expression of the landscape, being at the same time an integral part thereof thanks to the sculptures that settle perfectly within the green of the hedge as if they were tiles of a puzzle. So art within art, since the Horti Leonini garden, which acts as a treasure chest containing jewels within, represents one of the most significant gems that San Quirico d’Orcia is able to showcase all year long.
