Somaini Foundation
The exhibition presents a wide and representative selection of ink drawings created in 1999 that make up the Magical Etna series, which is numerically significant (over 200 sheets) and of very high quality. Organised in collaboration with the Maria Corti Foundation of the University of Pavia, it celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the death of sculptor Francesco Somaini (1926-2005) and launches a programme of exhibitions and publications dedicated to his work on paper, initiated for the centenary of his birth, which includes the open access publication of the Catalogue raisonné of his paintings, graphic works and engravings.
Having climbed Mount Etna several times during his lifetime, the artist devoted himself passionately to creating these drawings, inspired by the spectacular eruption of 1999, which he followed through the images created by Giovanni Tomarchio for Rai television news programmes and by reading Maria Corti’s famous book, Catasto magico, published that same year by Einaudi, which is presented as an “erudite stroll” around the volcano, offering a vast repertoire of myths and legends connected to it. Precisely for this reason, the scholar wrote a presentation text for these sheets, exhibited in the exhibition Somaini. Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings curated by Fred Licht and Luisa Somaini in Como in 2001, republished in the catalogue of this exhibition.
The series of inks entitled Magical Etna is divided into sections, all documented in the exhibition: Fires, Basalts, Black Stones, Anfracts, Islands, Sulphur flashes and Deadly exhalations, which reflect the phases of the volcano’s activity and the elements that characterise it; Sirens, Giants, Fairies, Witches and The Death of Empedocles, which retrace some of the myths and legends in which he plays a leading role.
The exhibition brings together thirty-two sheets from 1999 and eight sculptures, some of large dimensions, created between 1992 and 2001, which link Somaini’s graphic and sculptural production during those years, documenting the artist’s revival of the myth. The works come from the Somaini Archive, from several museums, such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and from private Italian collections, including that of the heirs of Enrico Crispolti.
The exhibition also features manuscripts and typescripts documenting the drafting of Catasto magico and two volumes from the scholar’s library, re-editions of Pietro Bembo’s De Aetna from 1495 (Sellerio Editore, 1981) and Breve ragguaglio degli incendi di Mongibello from 1669 (Obi, 1991), from the Maria Corti Foundation, and the extraordinary video Etna (2025) by Giovanni Tomarchio, who has documented the volcano’s activity over the years.
The exhibition, curated by Anna Longoni and Luisa Somaini, is accompanied by a catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, with texts by the curators, Maria Corti and Giulia Spoltore (Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome).
Somaini on the edge of the volcano – press release
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 13:00.
Visitor entrance on Via Cassolo, in front of street number 3.
Tickets:
Free admission, by reservation only: call +39 02 583 117 07 or write to fondazione.somaini@gmail.com.