Pietre di Rapolano organizes the event Dedalo in Fiore in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence and Orti Dipinti, a sculpture competition with the young students of the Florentine Academy.

Orti Dipinti, the community garden of Florence, will be enlivened by the three-day sculpture event – May 25, 26, and 27 – with an open-air workshop. The final award ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 27, 2017.

The students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, coordinated by the professor of Marble and Hard Stone Techniques Francesco Roviello, will explore the mythical figure of Daedalus, the famous sculptor and architect known for having built the legendary labyrinth for the mythical Cretan King Minos, where the Minotaur was imprisoned.

“The character of Daedalus is associated with an important phase in the evolution of archaic Greek sculpture: the Daedalic sculpture of the 7th century, where, in a climate of great social changes, migrations, and contacts between peoples, ancient geometric forms merged with new oriental influences, leading Greek sculpture towards an organic and monumental form, which we today recognize and admire in classical sculpture. The myth of Daedalus, myths in general, are complex and elusive material that never fully reveals itself except perhaps, in the continuous renewal in the metamorphoses of artistic expression.”

The title of the event, Dedalo in Fiore, symbolizes the “need to internalize and combine new languages, reviving the artistic experience as a moment of common growth, sharing, and solidarity, with the awareness that the dear ancient myths still suggest to us a privileged path to achieve a harmonious vision of the world” – (Francesco Roviello).

The young students of the sculpture competition will work on some blocks of travertine of different colors and present some marble sculptures already sketched. The workshop will be open and visitable on May 25 and 26 from 10 AM to 5 PM, where it will be possible to see the sculpture students at work. On May 27 at 6 PM, the award ceremony will take place.

At the end of the award ceremony on Saturday, May 27 at 6:30 PM, there will be a musical moment with the performance of the Note Noire Quartet with a repertoire ranging from swing, Mediterranean music, Django Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz, and with concerts in festivals and clubs throughout Europe.

Additionally, it will be possible to participate in a clay workshop coordinated by Raffaela Rizzo open to both children and adults, which will take place starting at 4:30 PM, concurrently with the end of the competition.

The event organized by Pietre di Rapolano aims to promote the fruitful exchange between schools and companies and to enhance the great mastery and specialization that our schools, heirs of long artistic and artisanal traditions, can convey and transmit to young students.