In the heart of the Roero region, Monticello Castle celebrates its 650th anniversary by opening its grounds to contemporary art with The Stories of Water. Sculptures in the Landscape Between Nature and Artifice, an exhibition by the international collective Cracking Art, curated by Carla Testore and promoted by the Monticello Castle Association with the support of Fondazione CRC and Banca d’Alba.
From June 12 to August 2, 2026, the historic park of Monticello Castle will host 68 sculptures of animals made from regenerated plastic—dolphins, penguins, frogs, turtles, meerkats, snails, and a large elephant—engaging in a dialogue with the ponds, water basins, and pathways of the Romantic garden designed in 1827 by Xavier Kurten. Water, a symbol of transformation and renewal, serves as the exhibition’s central theme, highlighting the issues of recycling, sustainability, and environmental regeneration that lie at the core of Cracking Art’s artistic research.
The project is part of the recent restoration of the park funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which made it possible to restore the garden’s original design, enhance local ecosystems, and recover the historic rainwater collection system.
The exhibition is accompanied by an experiential visitor trail featuring educational installations focused on biodiversity, the water cycle, and sustainability, as well as workshops and family activities held on weekends.
The celebrations marking the Castle’s 650th anniversary will begin with the exhibition opening on June 12 and continue on June 13 and 14 with a weekend of free-admission events dedicated to the history of the Castle and the Roero family, who have owned the estate since 1376.
Located among the UNESCO-listed hills of the Roero region, near Alba, Monticello Castle is one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Piedmont. Still inhabited by the Counts Roero today, it retains its towers, battlements, and historic interiors, which can be visited on guided tours, all set within a centuries-old park rich in monumental trees.
The Stories of Water. Sculptures in the Landscape Between Nature and Artifice
Park of Monticello Castle, Monticello d’Alba
June 12 – August 2, 2026
Opening hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–12:30 pm / 2:30 pm–6:00 pm
Email: info@roerodimonticello.it
Phone: +39 347 4437144
Website: roerodimonticello.it
There is something surprisingly philosophical about watching a capybara sit.
It does nothing extraordinary, displays neither strength nor speed.
It simply is.
And it is precisely in this apparent simplicity that its symbolic strength seems to lie. Almost contemplative, this large rodent watches our constant rushing about with calm benevolence and a natural inclination toward coexistence.
It sits beside us and, starting today, becomes a new companion in our installations: the capybara neither judges nor disrupts the rhythm of what surrounds it, but moves through it with quiet ease.
Be like the capybara.
A fairy tale featuring animals will come to life in the streets of Limone’s town center starting on June 10. The village will be transformed by a gentle, colorful, and decidedly larger-than-life invasion. This is Cracking Art, the international art movement that for more than thirty years has been bringing animal-inspired artworks to cities around the world. Throughout the season, its artists will gift the tourist destination with crocodiles, snails, swallows, rabbits, and many other charming protagonists.
Monumental installations will transform Via Roma into an open-air artistic route, with a preview event for journalists and art enthusiasts in mid-June and the official opening on June 26. The exhibition will remain accessible in the town center until September 24.
Founded in 1993, Cracking Art has built its identity around the use of regenerated and recyclable plastic, transformed into sculptures characterized by vivid colors and essential forms.
The creators explain: “Against the backdrop of the Maritime Alps, the sculptures evoke the surrounding natural environment and, through their interaction with the people who live in Limone, generate a fertile interference, a kind of hybridization. From this dialogue between nature and urban space emerge new inspirations and stories to imagine and tell.”
With this project, Limone has chosen to express itself in a new way through contemporary public art, turning a stroll through the village into a journey of installations and details that change the way people perceive everyday spaces, while also opening gateways to the worlds of imagination and play.
The presence of the artworks throughout the urban landscape invites both residents and visitors to view the village from different perspectives. The installations are also striking for their scale: the snails exceed three meters in length, the rabbits reach two and a half meters in height, and the monumental crocodile stretches over five meters long.
The project promoters, My Limone and the Ego Bianchi Association, with the support of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo, aim to create a visually impactful contrast: the rarefied atmosphere of the mountains meeting the industrial plasticity of the artworks; the peaceful landscape and Alpine traditions set against the bright-colored silhouettes of pop animals that burst into streets and squares, creating a captivating sense of surreal irony.
The initiative is sponsored by the Municipality of Limone. Partners include Limone Riserva Bianca, Fiocco di Neve Relais, Mac Miche Restaurant, Galleria d’Arte Senesi, and Ambiente e Servizi Eco Solutions.
PIETRA&CO. 2026 is the new public art project curated by the Consorzio Marmisti Bresciani, in collaboration with the Municipality of Sirmione and with the participation of the Regional Directorate of National Museums of Lombardy and Sirmione Servizi.
“Natural Intelligence” is the theme of this edition: a widespread art journey in which the environment and natural stone emerge as both the origin and living material of contemporary artistic expression.
In listening to art, human intelligence is invited to slow down.
The exhibition unfolds in dialogue with its surroundings, inviting visitors to experience a journey of exploration and reflection through an art form that survives beyond the paradigms of efficiency and speed, reaffirming the value of staying present and engaging with matter and space.
From Punta Grò to the Grotte di Catullo, marble sculptures, monumental installations, site-specific projects, photography, video art, and events interact with beaches, promenades, gardens, and archaeological sites.
Consorzio Marmisti Bresciani
T. +39 331 1998347
Email: info@consorziomarmisti.org
“Nature Interpreted – From Gino Rossi to Cracking Art” is an exhibition that brings together artists and diverse visual languages, all united by a single common thread: the relationship between humans and nature.
Curated by art critic Antonella Alban (head of the “Luigi Cima” Historical Archive) and organized in collaboration with Cracking Art and the Fondazione Cittadellarte, with the patronage of the municipality, the exhibition creates a dialogue between artists from different periods and artistic languages, placing nature at the center as an inexhaustible source of inspiration and research.
The exhibition (open Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm, as well as Friday from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm) aims to trace the evolution of the artistic gaze on nature. It begins with figures deeply connected to the Treviso area such as Gino Rossi and Giovanni Barbisan, interpreters of a lived and internalized landscape, and moves toward more emotional and chromatic visions represented by the works of Gina Roma and Olimpia Biasi.
The journey continues through the experimental approaches of the late 20th century, with artists such as Riccardo Licata, Achille Perilli, Giorgio Griffa, Emilio Isgrò, and Gualtiero Nativi, who redefined the codes of representation by opening new perspectives between sign, form, and concept. A significant section is dedicated to the “Nature Carpets” by Piero Gilardi, iconic works that transform the environment into a tangible experience.
The final part of the exhibition leads visitors into contemporary art, exploring industrial materials and new interpretations of the concept of beauty with artists such as Marco Lodola, Santorossi, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and the Cracking Art collective.
May 9 – June 14, 2026
Villa Ancillotto – Crocetta del Montello (Treviso) Italy
Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm; Friday from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm
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The school as a space for art.
Giant wolves, brightly colored frogs, and snails made of regenerated plastic inhabit the corridors of a school. It sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale, but it is an everyday reality at the De Amicis Institute in Rovigo, which, with the project “Colorful Safari,” has chosen to break down the boundaries between education and contemporary art.
The peaceful invasion of Cracking Art
In Rovigo, this “invasion” has found a home across the two De Amicis campuses: 15 artworks that have transformed the institute into a true “spread-out” art gallery, capable of surprising and engaging the eye every day.
Students: from spectators to protagonists
The real strength of “Colorful Safari” lies not only in the sculptures, but in the way the school has embraced the project. The students, in fact, have become an active part of the experience. one of the founders of the movement, students have become active participants in the experience:
Students from the Graphic Design and Communication program have shaped the visual identity of the initiative, bringing creativity and design skills into play.
Students from the Tourism program have become true cultural mediators, guiding visitors through the artworks and explaining the philosophy of the movement, in an experience that combines education with real professional practice.
A project that not only brings art into unconventional spaces, but also makes it alive, participatory, and deeply educational.
Dondup and Cracking Art come together in a fusion of fashion and contemporary art during Milan Design Week at the store on Via della Spiga 50.
Dondup opens the doors of its Via della Spiga store in Milan for a unique immersive experience, where the brand’s language engages in dialogue with the creative energy of Cracking Art. An Italian fashion brand rooted in high-quality denim, Dondup has built a strong and recognizable identity based on research and attention to detail. Today, the brand is undergoing a phase of evolution. The goal? To embrace more contemporary and dynamic forms of expression while preserving its core values. The iconic snails of Cracking Art animate the Dondup space.
A path of renewal that is reflected not only in new collections, but also in design choices and collaborations, increasingly oriented toward experimentation and cross-contamination. The meeting with Cracking Art arose spontaneously, coherently, and naturally. Founded in Biella in 1993, the artistic movement revolutionized the language of contemporary art through the use of regenerated plastic. Its installations—ironic, colorful, and easily recognizable—bring art outside conventional spaces.
As part of the Italian Contemporary Art Week and ARCO Madrid, the Italian Cultural Institute presents an installation by Cracking Art, an artistic movement known for its urban installations featuring animal figures. Cracking Art was founded in 1993 with the aim of changing the history of art through a strong environmental commitment which, combined with an innovative use of plastic materials, evokes the close relationship between nature and artificial reality.
The installation consists of a group of frogs invading the façade of the Palazzo di Abrantes, ironically evoking their croaking: a background noise that becomes a metaphor for the constant debate surrounding contemporary art. Meanwhile, wolves, swallows, and snails enter the interior of the palace, expressing a characteristic antinomy of our time—between natural and artificial life—in order to convey an “alternative” vision of the world and of history.
Exhibition open to the public from March 6, 2026
From 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Tuesday to Saturday; closed on Mondays and public holidays
The collaboration between chef Paolo Griffa and Cracking Art was born from the desire to bring together art and taste in a small moment of wonder.
The Cracking Art marmot sculpture becomes “Too Cute To Eat” an iconic chocolate that is as delicious as it is irresistible.
Like in a contemporary fairy tale, art turns sweet and chocolate becomes sculpture—an ideal symbol of creativity and playful exchange between two worlds that speak the same language: emotion.
Each box contains 16 marmots in 8 different flavors.
Follow the link to purchase:
https://paologriffa.com/prodotto/natale/marmotte-too-cute-to-eat-paolo-griffa-cracking-art/
