The Venue
Dietrofront was presented in occasion of Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s solo exhibition at Forte Belvedere in Florence 1984, and later moved to Porta Romana, which marks the limits of the old walled city. Donated by the artist to the city in 2000, the sculpture consists of two female figures arranged perpendicularly. One is larger in size and is standing erect, appearing to be walking south and looking ahead. The second, placed horizontally on its head, extends towards the city in the opposite direction: it symbolizes the double movement carried out by Florence over the centuries, the opening of the city towards the world, which was instrumental to its cultural and scientific progress, and the glance at the past, which Pistoletto described as “A return of modernity to Florence, from the journey into the world”.