The particular plano-volumetric conformation of Piazza Falvio Gioia (also called “the traffic circle” by Salerno residents), inspired artist Luca Pannoli who imagined it as a 15th-century architectural volume with a frescoed vault. Above dense LED lights simulate the ultramarine blue carved in antiquity from precious lapis lazuli, and dozens of three-dimensional 8-pointed stars recall the Scrovegni Chapel painted by Giotto in Padua. Suspended over our heads, a circle of luminous clouds suggests the cyclical passage of time and forms the natural frame from which 12 mysterious figures look out (the effect sought is similar to that achieved by Mantegna in the Bridal Chamber in Mantua). Since antiquity, men and women have observed the sky looking for meaning, reflection, order. And they have found it in the zodiac signs: for Jung, zodiac symbols are universal archetypes, twelve ways, twelve aspects of being. The zodiac does not define us: it reflects us. The 12 allegorical figures, six male and six female, drawn by the artist and loosely inspired by Alfons Mucha’s Art Nouveau style, watch as silent guardians as passersby cross the square, illuminating their path. Light in this work takes on multiple meanings: it is a means of guiding the viewer, it is a symbol of knowledge, of revelation (just like art), and it is used dynamically to represent the passage of time.
Itinerary – Artist Lights – 2025 Artist Lights 2–3 ore Facile
