Gabriele Mallegni | Caterina Sbrana
La piccola Terra (The small Land)
Lapidaria in Terricciola
Artistic Direction: Renato Baldasserini
Opening Reception: December 20, 2025, at 4:00 PM
Palazzo Ferrini Avanzati
Via delle Ripe 41 – Terricciola, Pisa
Stones, trees, fossils, and the landscape of Terricciola: these are the elements that inhabit La Piccola Terra, the exhibition by Caterina Sbrana and Gabriele Mallegni opening on December 20th in the spaces of the Le città sotterranee association at Palazzo Ferrini Avanzati.
The project—which intertwines contemporary art, archaeology, and the local territory—is sponsored by the Municipality of Terricciola under the artistic direction of Renato Baldasserini, with the collaboration and patronage of Le città sotterranee.
The two Pisa-born artists, both boasting extensive international experience, have explored Terricciola and its surrounding territory—a land suspended between the remnants of an archaic past and the tensions of a contaminated, transforming landscape. In doing so, they immersed themselves in uncultivated border spaces that represent the subconscious of every place.
On-site, Caterina Sbrana and Gabriele Mallegni have created new works belonging to Lapidaria, an itinerary-based project initiated by the duo in 2020. Lapidaria investigates the relationship between communities and stones, offering a profound reflection on human time versus geological time.
Drawing inspiration from the boundary markers and boundary stones that belong to Terricciola’s Etruscan past, Caterina and Gabriele selected specific rocks from the countryside and others from the dry bed of the Era River. They took casts of these rocks outdoors to create four new ceramic sculptures that hybridize local stones with domestic objects. These pieces restore the sense of an ancestral relationship that spans different geographies—a work-in-progress that highlights the peculiarities and similarities of our connection to nature and to the human and non-human presences that inhabit it.
The exhibition will also feature several works created by the artists during their residency, rooted in the observation of the landscape and the various ecosystems encountered along the way. These works map out a physical and conceptual journey within the architecture of Palazzo Ferrini Avanzati, moving from the chthonic, subterranean dimension of this landscape up to the historic building’s terrace, from which one scans the horizon.
Four of the works featured in the exhibition will be acquired by the Municipality of Terricciola and integrated into its permanent collection.