Entering Barga’s old town main gateway at ‘il Fosso’ (the ditch=originally an additional defence around the town’s mediaeval walls) there are, immediately to the right, a couple of places well worth visiting.

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The first place satisfies the stomach and is a pizzeria. ‘Che Pizza’ is mainly take-away although it’s possible to eat there (in ‘normal’ times, I should add). The pizzas are inexpensive, also include cecina (chickpea pancakes) and are scrumptious. There’s more information about ‘Che Pizza’ at http://www.barga.it/486615_ristorante_che_pizza.htm

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The second place satisfies the eye and the mind’s eye: Giorgia Madiai’s little but perfectly formed studio. Its front part is made up of the exhibition space. Stairs to the right lead up to the studio itself which is a quite amazing space with a low slung ceiling on which one could easily paint (as indeed one also has, Pollock-style, on the floor) Here Giorgia’s talent expresses itself not only in the canvases she is painting but also in the room’s wall decorations which are constantly evolving and forming an ever-changing ambience to her studio.

During my visit Giorgia was painting using oils unlike her more usual acrylic medium. Oils require patience she said because they need time to dry! For Giorgia’s art is a distinctive genus of fantastique spontaneity. Although they are very much her own creations in her images I could see hints of the fabulous worlds traced by Chagall and her lines have the purity of many of Picasso’s works (including that famous peace dove…)

Giorgia is a performance artist: she incorporates her own creative process into the works she paints: doing and presenting is contained in one total imaginative action  She collaborates with musicians such as may be seen in this snippet from an event which took place recently at I Romiti a converted Augustinian monastery situated above Fabbriche di Vallico:

Giorgia’s studio is an inventive cooperative where artists may meet and share its resourceful space. For example, I noticed works by fabric artist Kerry Bell about whom I have written here:

Elusive Elegance

I also realised that I’d seen a thought-provoking exhibition in Giorgia’s studio titled ’Monoscopia’ about which I posted here:

Monoscopica – An Exhibition at Barga’s Via del Pretorio no. 4

I would very much also see Giorgia as a scenographer in the theatre and, especially, in the Commedia dell’Arte. Her immediately attractive style combining endearing pathos with subtle caricature must surely lend itself gorgeously to the dramatic stage.

Finally I can’t do better than to quote what this gallery’s web site at https://www.viadelpretorio4.it/?l=en says about itself:

Via Del Pretorio 4 is not just an address. Via Del Pretorio 4 is not only a physical place, it is also a point of reference, via Del Pretorio 4 is a soul space.

The arts will help enormously to see us through the present world pandemic which isn’t just a health one but a moral one. To expand on what Shelley said about poets: all artists are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. May we have the faith and honesty to admit this and give artists every encouragement they deserve in these somewhat impossible and confusing times.

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