Fausto Melotti and Italo Calvino: A Friendship Explored in Siena Exhibition

The exhibition 'Fausto Melotti. In leggerezza. Un omaggio a Italo Calvino' at Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, curated by Michela Eremita, explores the deep friendship between sculptor Fausto Melotti (1901–1986) and writer Italo Calvino (1923–1985). Calvino died in Siena in 1985 after a brief stay at the hospital that once occupied the venue. The show presents a cross-reading of Melotti's works, including pieces created after the death of his lifelong friend Lucio Fontana, with whom Melotti studied at the Accademia di Brera under Adolfo Wildt. A video features an interview by Anna Mulas with Melotti. The exhibition highlights connections between Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' and Melotti's abstract sculptures, emphasizing lightness, transparency, and movement. Melotti, a visionary of Italian abstraction, was also a man of letters, music, and science. Calvino's 1971 text 'I segni alti' references Melotti's spiral forms.