IL CARAPACE ARNALDO POMODORO’S CARAPACE

The Carapace is the result of the Lunelli family’s dream of having a winery that is also a treasure chest for wine. From the Lunellis’ long-standing friendship with Arnaldo Pomodoro and their previous collaboration (which had led the great artist to create “Centenarium”, the sculpture that celebrates a century of history of the Ferrari winery) sprang the idea of suggesting that he – whose sculptures adorn important sites all over the world – should design the winery. Pomodoro enthusiastically accepted the challenge of creating a work that called into question the dividing lines between sculpture and architecture and which forged a dialogue both with the outside – the landscape in which it would be inserted – and with what would be inside: with the wine for whose production it had to be strictly functional.

INTUITION
The Carapace stems from his careful study of the site. After an initial survey, Arnaldo Pomodoro had already dreamt up the project. “The landscape”, he recounts, “reminded me of the Montefeltro region where I was born, the one that one finds in lots of paintings by Piero della Francesca. My work, therefore, didn’t have to contrast with the gentleness of the hills on which the vineyards lie; indeed, it had to perfectly integrated with the environment. I had the idea of a shape that was reminiscent of a tortoise, a symbol of stability and longevity which, with its shell, represents the union between the land and the sky”.

CONSTRUCTION
It took six years for the Carapace to be built. The work was performed by a veritable Renaissance workshop under the sensitive guidance of Arnaldo Pomodoro, and, for the more technical aspects, with the highly professional skills of architect Giorgio Pedrotti. The “Carapace” offers itself to one’s gaze as a large copper-covered dome, engraved with fissures that remind one of the furrows in the earth that surrounds it. A sculpted element in the form of a red dart plunging into the soil highlights the work’s place in the landscape.

THE WORK OF ART
The result is an absolutely unique work of art: the first sculpture in the world in which it is possible to live and work; a place in which art and nature, sculpture and wine intermingle, thus highlighting the exceptional nature both of the container and its contents. Entering the “Carapace” means penetrating into one of Pomodoro’s sculptures, and one is aware right away of his artistic alphabet, which is immediately recognizable in the internal vault. It is a winery that offers great emotions, as indeed was the case for its designer, Arnaldo Pomodoro. He himself describes the fact: “For the first time in my life I felt the excitement of being able to walk, talk and drink inside one of my own works”.