Sandro Veronesi

Sandro Veronesi (Firenze, 1959 – )

In the text from the book Sandro Veronesi, Andrea M.N. Mati. La Serra deipoeti (published by Gli Ori, Pistoia, 2018), Veronesi wrote, “I have known Giuliano Gori since I was small – always, as they say in such cases; my father was a dear friend of his.” Following the completion of Andrea Mati’s work “Focus,” which consists of thirty cypress trees, each dedicated to a poet from the Italian tradition, the collector invited Veronesi, a writer with a background in architecture, to propose an artwork where the cypress trees converge. In that place, the Serra deiPoeti (Poets’ Greenhouse) designed by Veronesi was built but, in terms of plant selection and care, it will be managed by Andrea Mati.

“[Giuliano Gori] overwhelmed me, there’s no denying it, with his mad proposal. I didn’t answer him right away, I took time. In the car going back to Rome, I was thinking that naturally I would refuse because, unfortunately, I’m not an artist and, in spite of my degree, I’m not even an architect – however, in the meantime, I also kept thinking that there, in that point, in that wounded and regenerated olive grove, at the tip of that green arrow of cypresses, a greenhouse would fit in nicely. I was thinking that I would refuse because, not only am I not an artist, and not even an architect, but because I would have to have a very powerful idea in order to design a monument and I certainly couldn’t have that idea on demand –however, in the meantime, I also kept thinking that, for almost forty years, I had been carrying inside me an idea for a greenhouse, or for an installation, or for a monument. And it was my father who had given it to me.” Sandro Veronesi in “Sandro Veronesi, Andrea M.N. Mati. La Serra dei poeti,” edited by Giuliano Gori, Gli Ori, Pistoia, 2018, p78.

Link to the book
gliori.it

Works by the artist

La serra dei poeti

For more info:

sandroveronesi.com