Words Titti Chiarello - Photography courtesy of Ente per le Ville Versiliesi

The silence, the smell of salt water, the lapping of the waves, the beautifully deserted beach and for this reason full of light and nature, with some isolated huts to remind you that, yes, people are somewhere, but they do not affect this Absolute Beauty - total and vibrant - which needs nothing to show itself off... Perhaps, these were just some of the suggestions that in the early 20th century inspired the suspended and timeless works of Carlo Carrà, who found the ideal place to express his art in Forte dei Marmi. He was enchanted by it to the point that at Forte he not only bought a house but spent long periods of his life there, meeting friends and colleagues and painting an impressive number of works, about three hundred, with an impetus dictated by the fatal attraction that this place exerted upon him. There were many artists who in the 20th century fell under the spell of Versilia and Forte, but Carrà’s presence was certainly one of the most faithful and constant. As the number of his works testifies, it was a real act of love.

The Ente per le Ville Versiliesi chaired by the indefatigable Fernanda Giulini, who has always been very active in protecting the region once again this year is promoting the cultural itinerary through the works of Carrà started in 2014. This itinerary in art and landscape sees over thirty reproductions of the artist’s paintings put in the places where he himself painted them, thus creating a sort of open-air museum and, in some way, giving the gaze of the great painter to all of us, as if we saw Forte through his eyes. “The works painted by Carrà are reproduced printed on metal sheets resistant to the outdoors and placed on real painters’ easels, in a way to evoke even more so the artist’s presence”, says President Giulini. “The itinerary is what Carrà himself most likely took, let’s say his favorite places. We can start from the church of Sant’Ermete, continue to Piazza Garibaldi, made famous by the Fortino and the Quarto Platano’s circle where Carrà loved to hang out with his friends, artists and intellectuals. We then arrive at the pier, with a view of the sea and the Apuan Alps, and follow along the coastal pathway perhaps heading firstly towards Vittoria Apuana, where we have more recently placed other works, and then again beyond the pier, stopping at the Beppe and Vittoria beach clubs where the artist was a regular. We next reach the six bridges over the Fiumetto passing along via Raffaelli, via Fiume, via Dalmazia, via Colombo, via Leonardo da Vinci, to end up in via Nizza. A route in which the paintings seek to be a living testimony of the transcendent value of art.”

The Ente per le Ville Versiliesi takes care of the maintenance of the panels and, thanks also to the collaboration with Luca Carrà, who owns the photographic archive of his grandfather’s works, has created the brochure illustrating the itinerary, ideal for cycling, hopefully refreshed by the pleasant breeze of the mistral.