Elisabetta Benassi's 'TOOLS' Mural Transforms Rome Metro Construction Site

On December 5, 2025, Italian artist Elisabetta Benassi unveiled 'TOOLS', a site-specific mural on the Piazza Venezia construction site of Rome's Metro C line. The work reinterprets Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 17th-century marble angels on Ponte Sant'Angelo, replacing their instruments of the Passion with construction tools—pliers, wrenches, chisels, and work gloves—held by seven workers. Commissioned by the Murales project, which transforms the construction perimeter into an open-air art gallery, the mural honors the labor community building Rome. Benassi, born in Rome in 1966, is known for installations interrogating cultural and political memory; her work has been shown at MACRO (2024 retrospective), MAXXI, Galleria Nazionale, Centre Pompidou, Kunsthalle Wien, Louisiana Museum, and three Venice Biennales. The Murales project, promoted by the Webuild-Vianini Lavori consortium under the patronage of Roma Capitale, features a scientific committee including Galleria Nazionale, MAXXI, Galleria Borghese, and Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Other participating artists include Liliana Moro, Pietro Ruffo, Marinella Senatore, TOILETPAPER, and Nico Vascellari.