General
A New Path in Tuscany Offers Rest, Beauty and an Escape from the Crowds
The Sentiero dell’Arte e dell’Anima, or Path of Art and Soul, in Pienza, is lined with 28 benches created by well-known artists where visitors can take in the countryside of the Val d’Orcia.
In Tuscany, the Val d’Orcia, with its rolling fields and untouched landscape beneath the dormant volcano of Monte Amiata, seems created for photo ops. Within it, the town of Pienza is one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture, designed by the famed Bernardo Gambarelli, better known as Bernardo Rossellino, in white travertine marble and surrounded by palazzi which he also built.
This summer, a new path leads visitors from the town’s main piazza to the countryside, a journey of a little less than two miles. Along its length they’ll find 28 benches made of travertine marble created by well-known artists. Each bench is both a place to rest and take in the sweeping views of the Italian countryside, and a work of art shaped by the maker’s hand: One suggests a throne, another carries an image of a face, another has the tactile surface of a beach stone.
The route, Il Sentiero dell’Arte e dell’Anima, or the Path of Art and Soul, was unveiled in March, with contributions by renowned Italian artists like Giò Pomodoro, Sandro Chia and Mauro Berrettini, and international standouts like Matthew Spender, Justin Peyser and Jean- Paul Philippe.
The benches are a gift from Fondazione FUR, the foundation created by the Swiss art collector Urs Rechsteiner, who has had a second home in the area for 30 years, the Villa Santa Maria. There, Mr. Rechsteiner created a garden for art works, and in the process “fell in love” with a bench from the artist Riccardo Grazzi. “It ignited a vision of a series of benches from various international artists to lead through the landscape providing places to meditate and take stock,” he said.
