Bosco di Sant’Antonio

documentary and photographic exhibition on the Prize-winning site
-

The exhibition, curated by Luigi Latini, within the framework of the International Carlo Scarpa Garden Prize 2012 coordinated by Domenico Luciani, collects photographic documentary and video materials on the historical and social events, the naturalistic and landscape-related aspects of Bosco di Sant’Antonio, in the Abruzzo mountains, near Pescocostanzo.

Set up in the three historical halls of Spazi Bomben, the exhibition unfolds through this division into three sections.

The first part presents cartography and photography materials and documents required to understand the geographical and topographical nature of the site, the history of the forest through its relationship with the region and the town of Pescocostanzo, the cultural developments that accompanied the life of the forest, including the decisive battle to defend it, in the early fifties of last century.

The second section focuses on the issues that are predominantly connected to the forest’s naturalistic aspects, the plant heritage and its “architecture”, its position within the framework of the landscapes of Abruzzo. To achieve this, photographic and documentary materials are used, along with aerial footage and video documents.

The last section centres on a single, important summarising document: the documentary One thousand years by Ermanno Olmi (1994) which touches closely on the issue of the Bosco di Sant’Antonio and the relationships between nature and human civilisation which the mountains of Abruzzo express in these places.