From August 14 to October 11, 2026, the Firmafede Fortress in Sarzana will host *L’Eternità dell’Istante*, an exhibition dedicated to the sculptural works of Beatrice Taponecco and Piergiorgio Balocchi. Curated by Roberto Spinetta of HC Gallery in Pietrasanta, the exhibition is conceived as a collateral event of the National Antiques Fair and will open on August 13 at 9:00 p.m. After the conclusion of the antiques fair, the exhibition will remain open to the public through October.
The exhibition brings together 25 marble works by the two artists, arranged in site-specific installations within the underground chambers of the Firmafede Fortress, where the exhibition route is designed to guide visitors through the complex’s historic spaces. The project concludes with a brand-new creation: for the first time, Taponecco and Balocchi will collaborate on a four-handed sculpture dedicated to Sarzana, which will be donated to the city at the end of the exhibition.
Both live and work in Torano, in the heart of the Apuan Alps, where marble serves as the starting point for their artistic exploration. Sarzana, however, also plays a central role in their personal histories. For Piergiorgio Balocchi, it is the place where he spent his childhood summers at his grandmother’s house, before his family moved to Siena, his hometown. For Beatrice Taponecco, on the other hand, it represents the city of her origins, linked to family memories and loved ones.
The exhibition stems from the convergence of two distinct artistic paths united by a shared interest in the representation of time. In Balocchi’s works, marble captures the movement of drapery, fixing in stone a gesture destined to endure. Taponecco, on the other hand, focuses her work on the transformations of nature, depicting leaves, petals, and organic forms at the moment of their evolution. In both artistic approaches, the subject is not so much the object as the process of transformation, entrusted to a material traditionally associated with permanence.
The collaborative work forms the centerpiece of the exhibition. Conceived as a tribute to the city that connects the personal histories of the two artists, it will bring their respective artistic explorations together in a single sculpture destined to become part of the heritage of the Municipality of Sarzana.
The exhibition is sponsored by the City of Sarzana, Confcommercio La Spezia, and the Sarzana Antique Dealers Association. It is held under the patronage of the Academy of Arts and Design in Florence and the City of Carrara, and has received the endorsement of the UNESCO Club “Città dei marmi.” The initiative is supported by the Liguria Regional Museums Directorate, the Riviere di Liguria Chamber of Commerce, *La Nazione*, Banca Versilia Lunigiana e Garfagnana, and the Earth Cooperative. Franco Barattini of Cave Michelangelo Srl also contributed to the realization of the exhibition.
Beatrice Taponecco was born in Sarzana in 1987. She holds a degree in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and has been an Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts and Design in Florence since 2024. She lives and works in Torano, in the Apuan region, where she personally creates marble sculptures from raw blocks, overseeing every stage of the process. Her work focuses on the relationship between form and nature, translating fragments and transformations of the organic world into stone through a language akin to lyrical abstraction.
As a member of the Apuan-Versilian School of Sculpture, she has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including the 10th VAF Foundation Prize at the MART in Rovereto and the Stadtgalerie in Kiel. Among the awards she has received are First Prize in the Ideas Competition for a work intended for the five finalists of the Strega Prize (2019), First Prize at Corti Milano 2020, and First Prize in the international public competition for the CREW Interreg Italy-Slovenia 2021–2027 project. Her works are included in public and private collections, including the VAF Foundation and the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. She is represented by HC Gallery in Pietrasanta.
Piergiorgio Balocchi was born in Siena in 1954. He is professor emeritus of the Chair of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara and a member of the Academy of Drawing Arts in Florence. Since 1975, he has participated in major national and international exhibitions, making his debut at the 10th Rome Quadriennale. In 1981, he held his first solo exhibition at the Toninelli Gallery in Rome, curated by art historian Enzo Carli, a central figure in his artistic development.
In the following years, he took part in the 41st Venice Biennale (1984), the 11th Rome Quadriennale (1986), and numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Since 1988, after being appointed to a professorship at the Academy of Carrara, he has focused his work on monumental marble sculpture, creating works for museums, parks, and public spaces in Italy, South Korea, Spain, Germany, Syria, Turkey, and Morocco. He has participated in numerous international sculpture symposia and in 2007 received the “Duccio” Prize in Siena. His works and artistic research have been examined in depth by numerous critics and art historians, including Enzo Carli, Mariano Apa, Pier Carlo Santini, Massimo Bertozzi, and Marco Pierini.
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| An exhibition by Balocchi and Taponecco in Sarzana (and a work donated to the city) |
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