On 19 April this year, Fernando Botero celebrated his 90th birthday. Colombian artist, sculptor, painter and draftsman, his name has long been linked to Pietrasanta and has become part of the artistic history of the town, perhaps becoming its undisputed protagonist together with Igor Mitoraj. The bond between Botero and Pietrasanta has been strong for about forty years, that is, since the 1970s, a period in which the artist arrived in our lands and decided to open a workshop in Little Athens to stay close to the Carrara marble quarries. Botero had already been to Italy around the 1950s, after winning the second prize at the Ninth Salon of Colombian Artists in Bogotà, deciding to use the money he won for a trip to Europe. In Italy Botero studied in depth the works of the Italian Renaissance and artists such as Giotto and Mantegna were later an inspiration for his works. When Botero arrived in Pietrasanta he was impressed by the skill of the master craftsmen who worked in the foundries and he entrusted the production of his bronze statues to them. His numerous works can certainly be admired in some of the most famous museums in the world, including the MoMA, the Vatican Museums, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bogotá or in the squares of cities such as New York, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Locarno. , Bamberg and many others, but also Pietrasanta can boast of owning some of the artist's masterpieces, works that over time have been donated by Botero himself to Pietrasanta as a sign of admiration and respect.

Botero's style is certainly unique in the world. His works are mainly known for their "roundness", as the figures that are reproduced, human beings or animals, are shapely, dilated, both in the paintings and in the sculptures. Botero claims not to paint corpulent subjects, but rather "volumes": extending the forms means for him to express a pleasure for life, for sensuality and for fullness, understood as satisfaction. As for the paintings, the colors chosen are always soft, with flat and uniform backgrounds without the use of shading, and this helps to give a feeling of lightness to the subjects, despite their abundant shapes. An interesting feature of his characters is the absence of a psychological dimension: the looks, in fact, are almost lost in the void, with wide open eyes that do not blink, as if they were not looking at anything. Among the various topics addressed, certainly that of the sacred plays a very important role in Botero's work. In fact, he dedicated a large part of his production to this topic, we can see it in his landscapes, where cathedrals and churches are almost always present, or in paintings depicting figures of religion, such as his very famous Madonna and Child. Another important theme addressed by the artist is violence, with a particular reference to everyday life in Colombia in the 1940s, a violence observed through the eyes of children and represented with disproportionate forms.

Botero has certainly made an enormous artistic contribution to Pietrasanta and walking through the streets and squares of the city it is easy to meet some of his masterpieces that he has donated to the city over time. Let's start for example from Piazza Matteotti, where we meet the famous sculpture called Il Guerriero (1992), an imposing sculpture of almost four and a half meters high completely in bronze, which has almost become a symbol of the town.

Always linked to the aforementioned religious trend, in the Church of San Biagio and Sant'Antonio Abate it is possible to admire the two beautiful frescoes Porta dell’Inferno and Porta del Paradiso. The first represents infernal figures immersed in tongues of fire, devils, skeletons and damned souls, it is also possible to see the image of Hitler. On the contrary, in the second the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms dominates the snake in the garden of Eden surrounded by angels, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta stands out among the characters.

Also inside the Museum of Sketches, in the Cloister of Sant’Agostino which overlooks the enchanting Piazza del Duomo, it is possible to see three plaster sketches about two meters high, made for the works Adam, Eve and Woman with an umbrella.

Living in Pietrasanta means living in a context where art reigns supreme and where a walk is enough to immerse yourself completely in the history of this special place. The staff of the Agenzia Immobiliare Pietrasanta is always available to provide information and assistance to anyone who dreams of living in this City of Art where the likes of Botero have chosen to stay.