Mauro Staccioli's Prato 88 reinstalled at Centro Pecci after decades

After years of bureaucratic delays, Mauro Staccioli's monumental sculpture 'Prato 88' has been reinstalled in front of the Centro Pecci in Prato. The 34-meter-long, 12-meter-high inverted iron and concrete arch was originally created for the museum's 1988 inauguration, donated by Elda Franchi Pecci in memory of her husband Enrico Pecci. Removed in 2006 due to an expansion project by Maurice Nio, the work languished until the city allocated €220,000 for restoration and repositioning, with an additional €19,000 from Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio for planning. Now placed diagonally near its original site, the sculpture was repositioned according to Staccioli's own instructions before his death in 2018. To celebrate, the Centro Pecci hosts the free exhibition 'Ri-pensare la scultura di Mauro Staccioli' until January 6, 2026, featuring original sketches and works tracing his career from pointed iron sculptures of the 1970s to corten steel geometric forms of the 2000s.