Leonardo Trulli Resort, in collaboration with Oblong Contemporary Gallery, is pleased to present Ritorni — Il Risveglio delle Origini, a contemporary art exhibition opening on 13 July and remaining on view until 30 September.
Set within the historic landscape of Puglia, the exhibition explores the relationship between memory, matter, nature, and contemporary artistic expression. Conceived as a dialogue between monumental sculpture, architecture, and the surrounding territory, the project transforms the resort into an immersive exhibition space in which art becomes an extension of the landscape itself.
At the origin of the project stands the symbolic figure of Leonardo, a man profoundly connected to this land. His world was shaped by a masseria, a solitary trullo, olive trees, vineyards, and the quiet rhythm of rural life. Before leaving this place, Leonardo entrusted it to Rosalba, passing on a promise: to preserve its identity while allowing it to evolve.
Over the years, that promise gradually took form. The original trullo became part of a village of stone. The masseria was transformed into a place of hospitality, contemplation, and beauty. The vegetable garden continued to follow the seasons, the vineyards remained rooted in the soil, and the centuries-old olive trees preserved the memory of the landscape.
Nothing was erased. The existing architecture and natural environment were carefully retained, reinterpreted, and brought into a new context. The result is a place in which heritage is not treated as something static, but as a living identity capable of renewal.
Within this setting, contemporary art becomes the voice of the land.
The sculptures do not appear as isolated objects. They emerge among the olive trees, engage with the trulli, and establish a direct relationship with light, stone, vegetation, and space. Each work becomes part of a wider visual and conceptual sequence, guiding visitors through an experience that is both physical and introspective.
The exhibition takes its title from the idea of return: not as nostalgia, but as a process of rediscovery.
Ritorni — Il Risveglio delle Origini develops through six monumental artistic presences, each associated with a distinct stage of awakening: matter, memory, life, humanity, dance, and the cosmos.
Through the symbolic gaze of a child Leonardo, returning to encounter the land he once knew, the exhibition unfolds as a journey between origin and transformation.
THE SIX GATES OF AWAKENING
The Monumental Pathway Through the Park
The outdoor itinerary is articulated through six symbolic moments. Each sculpture acts as a threshold, opening a different reflection on the relationship between human beings, nature, and existence.
Silvia Della Rocca - The Awakening of Matter
The journey begins with matter, understood as the primary origin of form.
Material is presented not as a passive substance, but as a carrier of energy, time, and transformation. Through the encounter between artistic gesture and physical presence, matter becomes the starting point from which every subsequent awakening emerges.
Giuseppe Maiorana - The Awakening of Memory
The second stage is dedicated to memory and to the invisible roots that connect the individual to place, experience, and identity.
Memory is not presented as a fixed image of the past, but as an active presence. It continues to shape the present, preserving traces of what has been lived while allowing new meanings to emerge.
Stefano Bombardieri - The Awakening of Life
The third stage introduces a reflection on life, vulnerability, and responsibility.
Bombardieri’s monumental presence creates a tension between scale and fragility, inviting the viewer to reconsider humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The work becomes a reminder that life is not something to possess, but something to protect.
Stefano Pierotti - The Awakening of Humanity
The journey then turns towards the human condition.
Pierotti’s work explores interiority, vulnerability, solitude, and the search for connection. Humanity is revealed through its emotional complexity and through the moment in which the individual confronts their own fragility.
The awakening of humanity is therefore also an awakening of awareness.
Sauro Cavallini - The Awakening of Dance
The fifth stage introduces movement, rhythm, and liberation.
Through the language of the body, dance becomes a metaphor for transformation. The figure enters into dialogue with the surrounding space, overcoming physical weight and becoming gesture, balance, and energy.
Movement opens the possibility of freedom.
Gianfranco Meggiato- The Awakening of the Cosmos
The monumental pathway culminates in a reflection on the cosmos.
Meggiato’s complex and dynamic forms evoke the invisible structures connecting the individual to a greater universal order. Interior and exterior space coexist, while matter appears to move continuously between concentration and expansion.
The personal journey thus opens onto a wider dimension, in which consciousness, nature, and the universe are understood as part of the same interconnected system.
THE INTERIOR PATHWAY:
Fulvio Bifarini — The Awakening of Colour
The exhibition continues within the interior spaces of the resort, marking a transition from the monumental scale of the park to a more intimate and emotional dimension.
Here, the works of Fulvio Bifarini introduce the seventh stage of the journey: the awakening of colour.
While the outdoor sculptures engage with matter, memory, landscape, and space, Bifarini’s abstract paintings explore the inner territory of perception and emotion.
His large-scale oils emerge from an instinctive and physical approach to painting. Colour becomes energy, movement, and emotional trace. It is no longer simply a formal element, but an autonomous presence capable of activating sensation, memory, and imagination.
Integrated throughout the resort, the paintings form a natural continuation of the exhibition. Their presence creates moments of pause and contemplation, encouraging the viewer to move from the external landscape towards an interior one.
A CONTEMPORARY RETURN
Ritorni — Il Risveglio delle Origini is conceived as an exhibition to be experienced through movement.
Visitors are invited to cross the landscape, encounter the works, and participate in a gradual process of reflection. Each stage introduces a different dimension of awakening, yet all are connected by the same central question: how can the past remain alive without preventing transformation?
Through sculpture, painting, architecture, and nature, the exhibition proposes an idea of heritage based on continuity rather than preservation alone.
The trulli, the olive trees, and the artworks become part of a shared narrative in which tradition is not immobilised, but renewed through contemporary artistic language.
Leonardo’s symbolic return represents the fulfilment of the original promise: to safeguard the authentic spirit of the land while allowing it to speak to the present.
In this encounter between memory and transformation, the landscape becomes both subject and exhibition space.
Stone begins to speak again. Art becomes its contemporary voice.
W: +39 3357055914