Filippo Ciavoli's 'Corallo' Installed in Pietrasanta Baptistery

Filippo Ciavoli (b. 1977, Pietrasanta), a former student of the late Igor Mitoraj and third-place winner of the 2014 Henraux Prize, has installed his marble sculpture 'Corallo' in the 18th-century Baptistery of the Duomo of Pietrasanta. The work, depicting interwoven hands, references the fragility and resilience of coral colonies against climate change. Ciavoli integrates software into his creative process but maintains the vitality of human conception. The Baptistery, originally the Oratorio di San Giacinto built between 1604 and 1615 by the Compagnia del Santissimo Sacramento, became a baptistery in 1786 after Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Lorraine suppressed confraternities. It houses two baptismal fonts: a hexagonal one attributed to Bonuccio Pardini (14th century) with carved allegorical figures, and another begun by Donato Benti and Nicolò Civitali in the early 16th century, completed later by Orazio Bergamini and Fabrizio Pelliccia, with bronze additions by Felice Palma. The interior was remodeled in the 18th century by Giuseppe Maria Castepoggi, who added a new altar, balustrade, and holy water stoups. The only surviving 17th-century element is Filippo Martelli's altarpiece 'Eucaristia e angeli adoranti'.