Sculptures in the woods
In the Val di Sella, a green side valley above Borgo Valsugana, among meadows, beech woods and conifers, Arte Sella is one of the most original contemporary art exhibitions in Europe: an open-air museum where works of art are created with natural materials, such as wood, branches, stones, leaves and earth, and placed in the forest, where they live, change and decay with the seasons and the passage of time, returning to the earth. Born in 1986 from an idea of a group of local friends, it has involved hundreds of artists from all over the world, who have created their works in dialogue with nature.
The visit follows two routes. The Sentiero Arte Natura, a path through the woods, and the area around Malga Costa, an old mountain hut, where dozens of installations follow one another, some in the shape of nests, cocoons, spirals, huts and tunnels of branches, others integrated into the trees or the streams. The most famous work is the Cattedrale Vegetale, the Plant Cathedral, by the artist Giuliano Mauri, created in 2001: a huge structure of three naves made of 80 columns woven from thousands of branches, each of which contains a young hornbeam that grows inside it; over the years, as the branches decay, the trees will form a living cathedral. In October 2018, the Vaia storm, which destroyed millions of trees in the north east of Italy, also devastated part of Arte Sella, but the park was rebuilt and new works were created, some using the fallen trees. Arte Sella also hosts concerts, performances and meetings.
Tip: wear comfortable shoes, the visit takes about two to three hours; autumn, with the colours of the beech woods, is the best season.
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