The collectors' statement

"Happiness is real only when shared”
(Christopher McCandless, 1968-1992)

We started collecting more than twenty years ago. Initially distracted by the market, then we began to be inspired by the beauty of simplicity and conciseness, and by purity in shapes and in colors.
In our pieces beauty is hidden, it is a matter of discovery by a sensible observer, and mostly it is the beauty of simple things, those under our eyes, that sometimes we may miss.

Our pieces aim interacting with the space and with the viewer, they ask for a receptive eye. The approach to the artworks should not be rational or pragmatic, it should be exploratory and sensorial. Our pieces need to be observed repeatedly, need to be “surrounded”, seen with different perspectives and eventually discovered. An artwork is assimilated slowly and its discovery phase is a driving force for a passionate observer.

We love that kind of art that can be admired in silence, inspiring happiness and calm. We love receiving messages from our pieces, they teach us, they have to be contemporary and guide us on how we should look at today’s world.
We named the collection “The Place”. “The Place” is a virtual place, it is in our dreams, it is the place where we would like to be. A peaceful place, where human beings live together, happy, women and men, in harmony with the planet and with their own lives. Good art may help in making “The Place” less virtual and more familial to us.

Mark Rothko said “A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensibile observer. It dies by the same token. It is, therefore, a risky and unfeeling act to send it out into the world”.

We are conscious of this risk, but we are confident that sharing our views and our collection with other people, who may or may not be passionate of contemporary art, can only enrich our vision and feed our passion.

​A conversation with Laura and Angelo
​​(Florence, August 12, 2019)

Why did you start collecting ?
It can be embarrassing to say, but... to speak frankly, initially we collected to decorate our first home in Brussels, after we married in 1996....(general laugh). In that apartment light came in overwhelmingly from large windowed doors facing South-West. Moreover, the apartment had wide white walls waiting only for large paintings to be hanged.

... And then ??
Well, later on, we started realising that our initial purpose was quite superficial and that there was clearly something behind.

Which was your "something behind" ?
Yes, you are perfectly right ! There is a myriad of "something behind" potentially motivating people to start collecting, and, more importantly, to fuel the collection. In our case, we started realising that step by step the collection
was going to become a new entity, an integral component of our life, and eventually a sort of new family member !
We realized that creating a dialogue with the collection was not only possible but even critical to have a better understanding of ourselves and of today's world.
When we say that the collection became a new family member we mean that with time the collection has gained a permanent presence in our daily life. We tend to talk frequently between us about the collection, about its meaning and links with today's world, at least according to our interpretation. We may talk about the collection during our trips, holidays, at dinner, with friends, and of course with our daughter Federica, who is now 21 years old, and who actually started to visit museums, galleries and artist's studios, when she was just a baby !!
Nowadays, the acquisition of a new piece is a family matter ! We discuss, we share our opinions, we debate, the latter can be quite funny..., and eventually we decide. Angelo is the guy who investigates..., making researches about new artists or new works. Laura and Federica have an innate skill to realize immediately what can really make sense in the context of our collection.

It looks like that you consider the collection as a sort of living entity....
Wow !... You may be right, we are still discussing about its gender ... but you may be totally right !! (they laugh convincingly). Actually, we feel that a thoughtful collection may reflect quite well its owners. The collection may evolve over time, it may change its shape as well as the owners evolve and progress during their own lives. We tend to consider the collection as a reliable life-companion. The collection pieces stand beside their owners and become part of the collectors' life. There are times in which you just pass by a piece and you simply ignore it, and then other times you are very keen to spend time with the same piece. Then, the different pieces of the collection may mark different moments of your life. We feel that when this close interaction with the collection happens, then it is very gratifying.

Do you believe that a collection has to turn around a specific theme ?
It depends on the collectors' wishes. In our case, the answer is a big YES !! We aim to a collection teaching to us, that can actually be complementary to us and potentially improving ourselves and the way we act in today's world. We love to be surprised by our pieces, by the views they may offer of our own lives and of the events occurring in today's world. Thanks to the collection, it may be possible to look into ourselves, or outside of us, with different eyes, and eventually this may be an unique enrichment. Each piece of the collection may bring its own contribution, and it is our responsibility to make sure that harmony dominates between the different pieces. Actually, we tend to compare a collection to a symphonic orchestra where each musician and each instrument play in harmony with the others, with the aim to produce all together a great symphony.

Have the pieces of your collection a common denominator in terms of aestethic ?
This is a difficult question.... The relationship between art and aesthetic is quite complex. There are celebrated curators and academics who have spent their own professional life to elaborate about the interaction between art and aesthetic.
From our very modest point of view we can just say that the immediate appearance of an artwork has rarely been the driving force leading us to acquire a new piece for our collection. For instance, there are some of our pieces dealing with the concept of "The Infinity" which have been and are still very gratifying to us. However, at a first glance, it may be difficult to be attracted by them. It is also a question of training.... the more you see, the more your eyes and your brain become sensitive and receptive to a certain language.

Well, I have another difficult question for you. What is beauty ? How much beauty can be relevant in convincing you about the acquisition of a new piece ?
Wow ! This is another tough question .... We feel there are different forms of beauty and these of course may co-exist and may complement each other. Purity in shapes or in colors may represent an example of beauty, and in our case this is certainly a form of beauty that we appreciate very much. However, with time we have discovered another form of beauty, certainly less conventional but definitely as powerful as the most classical form of beauty that we usually start to discover when we are young students sitting at school desks.

Can you go in more details about this less conventional form of beauty ?
We can certainly try... It is about that form of beauty that apparently seems to be imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is the beauty of things that are modest and humble, it can be the beauty of frailty.
Just to provide you with an example, we are doctors, oncologists, taking care of cancer patients. As you may imagine, sometimes, nowadays clearly less than in the past, patients may die of their cancer. In the last phases of their terrible disease they tend to lose weight, they become pale and they may have less and less energy. When you look at them, you realise that we are clearly losing our fight against the disease. However sometimes you discover an unique form of beauty coming from their eyes, or from their still present smiles. They have an extraordinary stenght, they fight against the disease with dignity and courage. They know well that things are going wrong but they are teaching us to live day by day, tasting deeply each single moment that can still produce pleasure. It may be hard to believe that when you have a serious disease there are still moments of your life that can be pleasant.... However, they teach us that if you look at things with a different perspective, you may discover that unconventional form of beauty under our eyes since ever, that unfortunately with time we may tend to ignore.
In this regard, there is a well known sentence by Rainer Maria Rilke reported in his masterpiece "Letters to a young poet" that says "If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches". Discovering this unconventional form of beauty hidden behind our everyday life has been, and is still, a great challenge and at the same time an invaluable achievement for us.

The last couple of questions are about your exhibition space. Could you describe it ?
This has been a remarkable moment in the collection's life ! At one point we realized that having a space entirely dedicated to the collection would have contributed substantially to highlight the collection pieces. We were looking for a space with its own personality and at the same time able to host and to interact properly with the collection. Moreover, we considered of crucial importance to have enough light coming into the space, possibly from the North side because light coming from the North is discreet and respectful toward artworks. The space had to be located at about one hour drive from home because we wanted to visit the place easily. At the same time we aimed to have this space not so close from where we live because the decision to have a visit to the space had to be taken convincingly and not only because the space was located just on the way to home. Last but certainly not least, the space had to be located in a green area, far from the city traffic, in a place evoking peace and enhancing introspectiveness.
Well, we have been lucky because we have found a place entirely fulfilling our wishes ! Our exhibition space is a former carpentry with its own history. It has a squared map and the cealing is about six meters high. Northern light comes in from a large windowed door. Wide white walls, grey pillars and a concrete floor with clear tracks of its own past, give a definite character to the space !
When we visit the space, we feel very close to our pieces and this is for us very gratifying !

Where is the space located ? Is it possible to visit it ?
It is in the hills South of Florence, in the middle of a wooden area which since the eleventh century has been an elected destination for people wishing to escape from the Florentine life, looking for silence and introspectiveness; certainly not ideal for teen-agers who usually look for places where action is the main player.... ! Of course, we are thinking to Federica, our daughter, and to her reaction when she visited the place for the first time.....!!
The area is characterised by the presence of several parishes which in the past hosted pilgrims and artists, among those Masaccio, who frequently left tracks of their residency by donating notable artworks to the parishes.
With regard to visiting the space, so far our attitude has been to keep the place for us as well as for our close friends. However, we feel that if other people could derive the same sense of peace and gratification that we have when we visit the space, then we would be very happy ! Eventually, we think that one of the convinced collector's responsibility is sharing the collection and its meaning with other people. Certainly, we aim to preserve that "breeze of intimacy" that one can actually feel when visiting the space, but we would certainly be willing to schedule a visit for someone who may have an interest after a contact with the collection website. For sure, we do not expect tourist buses stopping at our place.... but this is absolutely fine and understable...!

Well, I wish to thank both of you for taking the time for this conversation.
It has been a pleasure for us ! We have enjoyed very much spending this time with you and now it is time for dinner... you will taste the famous "pasta alla Carbonara" made specially for you by Laura !
​(They laugh convincingly and we go to dinner...!)