From Sept. 27, 2025 to Jan. 26, 2026, the Palazzo Pretorio in Certaldo Alto (Florence) will host Fiammetta, a new solo exhibition by Valentina Palazzari curated by Davide Sarchioni and organized by Exponent. The exhibition is part of the program of CertaldoArte25, a review that the municipality of Certaldo dedicates to the 650th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Boccaccio. The initiative enjoys the patronage of the Regional Council of Tuscany and the collaboration of London-based Sprovieri Gallery and TerraMedia APS.
“In going through the rooms of the exhibition,” explains Valentina Palazzari, “I would like the public to take in what they see as a thought taking shape, rather than breaking it down into symbols or meanings. I wish to remove myself from what comes easy to me, to listen to the space outside of me starting from where I place my feet and extending to the infinity I can imagine. After all, it is enough to add + 1 to each thought. In short, I wish to push my relationship with space further.”
The chosen title refers to a name that evokes multiple literary and symbolic suggestions. Fiammetta is the woman celebrated by Boccaccio in numerous works, a female figure far from Dante’s transcendence, anchored in the earthly, passionate and concrete dimension. A character who has spanned the centuries as an emblem of vitality and realism, and who becomes for Palazzari the focus of an artistic path aimed at interweaving memory, space and matter. The name, which recalls a small flame, is charged with allegorical values: it represents the ability to resist, to transform and to leave traces.
The rooms of the Praetorian Palace, former seat of the Florentine Vicars and custodian of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century fresco cycles, constitute the setting in which the exhibition takes shape. The exhibition is divided into five rooms on the piano nobile and takes the form of an installation itinerary conceived specifically for the sites, in which the works dialogue with the spaces, redefining them and opening them up to new possibilities for interpretation. Palazzari thus continues her relationship with Italy’s historical-artistic heritage, after being the first artist to intervene with a large installation in the lower vestibule of the Reggia di Caserta. In Certaldo she further develops this line of research, working on the relationship between body and architecture, past and present, matter and vision.
The choice of materials is one of the central elements of the project. Palazzari draws on the industrial world, using electrowelded mesh, iron boxes, electrical cables, metal rods and plastics. The elements, removed from their original context, are transformed into artifacts that do not deny their physical and aesthetic characteristics, but enhance them, converting them into poetic and visionary tools. In parallel, the artist introduces cotton fabrics, paper rolls and plastic sheeting marked by time and wear. Burns, tears and traces of rust testify to ongoing processes of transformation, restoring the fragility and at the same time the strength of the material.
The path prompts questions about current events. The works, in constant dialogue with the space, propose readings that go beyond the surface and invest broader themes, from critical analysis of contemporaneity to reflection on the relationship between man and the environment. Matter, in Palazzari’s works, becomes a living organism, capable of transformation and of returning traces of memory and change. The exhibition catalog, published by Silvana Editoriale, will be presented during the opening period. The edition, in Italian and English, includes critical texts and a rich photographic documentation illustrating both the works exhibited in Certaldo and the artist’s most recent projects. The opening of the exhibition is set for Saturday, September 27, at 5 p.m. The exhibition also contributes to interweaving Boccaccian celebrations with a contemporary language, offering a current and noncelebratory interpretation of the female figure who inspired the author of the Decameron.
Admission: full 5.00 € - reduced 4.00 €
Hours: September to October: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30-7 p.m.; November to January: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30-5:30 p.m.; closed Tuesday
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| Valentina Palazzari's exhibition in Certaldo: homage to Fiammetta, Boccaccio's muse |
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