The Venue
Foglie di pietra was conceived by Giuseppe Penone, master of Arte Povera, in the frame of a project for the production of a work of art to be placed in front of the headquarters of Fendi in largo Goldoni, in Rome. The work was selected by a commission composed of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Peripheries – Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (now Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity), Roma Capitale and Fendi S.r.l. The sculpture consists of two bronze trees, whose intertwined branches hold a massive block of sculpted marble 5 meters above the ground. Bronze fragments on the taller branches recall the architectural ruins of classical and medieval Rome. The references to the cultural and artistic history of the city are also evoked in the baroque illusionistic use of materials.