Lenz Fondazione's 'Paradiso' Installation Inside Parma's Ponte Nord

Lenz Fondazione, led by Maria Federica Maestri and Francesco Pititto, has installed 'Paradiso. Un Pezzo Sacro' inside the Ponte Nord in Parma, Italy, as part of a biennial project on Dante's Divine Comedy commissioned by the Festival Verdi. The site-specific work transforms the unused glass-and-steel bridge into a journey through Dante's Paradise, using Giuseppe Verdi's Quattro Pezzi Sacri as a musical foundation. The installation features a female-dominated cast, including 'attori sensibili' (actors with disabilities), with Delfina Rivieri embodying the Virgin Mary. White and black dominate the visual landscape, with projections, lasers, smoke, and electronic sounds by Andrea Azzali. The piece follows previous installations: 'Purgatorio' in the former Ospedale Vecchio and the upcoming 'Inferno' in a waste incinerator. The work explores themes of light, female divinity, and spiritual ascent, culminating in a gravitational black hole representing the final canticle.