THERMAL LANTERN
Ex Terme Inps,
Artwork on the Via Francigena
Strada Bagni, Viterbo, 2019
THE ARTWORK
Alfredo Pirri has detected, in the lodge of the former thermal baths of INPS, a complex neglected for many years, the possibility of leaving a concrete mark for those who walk the ’via Francigena’ (Franciscan route) approaching Viterbo. He has, this way, transformed this small building, a shelter of a few square metres, into a lit lantern.
THE ARTIST
“The building is now an empty, abandoned space controlling a road junction, a symbolic hinge between public and private, countryside and city. It’s there, like a motionless sentry, old and tired, waiting for the changing of the guard. The building can become a sculpture, a solitary solid lit lantern. Bright at night, like a lighthouse orientating the passers-by and dumb again during the day, with eyes and mouth shut by the shiver of birds’ wings passing by.”
PHOTOS: L. RICCITIELLO E R. MUZZI
SKETCHES
