Giuseppe Penone Retrospective Across Spoleto for 2026 Festival dei Due Mondi

The 2026 Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi features a city-wide homage to Giuseppe Penone, curated by Saverio Verini. The project, a collaboration between Fondazione Carla Fendi, Musei Civici di Spoleto, Museo di Palazzo Collicola, Studio Penone, and Gagosian, includes a monumental sculpture in Piazza Pianciani, a video installation at the ex-Battistero della Manna d'Oro (June 27–August 2, 2026), and an exhibition at Palazzo Collicola (through January 2027). The sculpture "Le foglie delle radici" serves as the festival's symbol. At Palazzo Collicola, the exhibition "Anafora" features eight sculptures, including an eleven-meter tree in the Salone d'Onore. The video series "Epheměris" presents seven works focusing on natural materials and gestures. Penone's works have been shown at Centre Pompidou, Rijksmuseum, Frick Collection, and Serpentine Galleries. Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi highlighted the connection between the artist's minimalism and the Baptistery's mysticism. Curator Verini noted the symbolic significance of Penone's presence in Spoleto, a city with a sculptural tradition from Leoncillo Leonardi to the 1962 "Sculture nella città" exhibition curated by Giovanni Carandente.