“Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award” No. 2, artwork by Binta Diaw renews the bond between art and wine

The duo of wine and art has written many beautiful pages in history, but at the same time, it is increasingly projected into the future, drawing on the immense cultural background they share and creating a winning synergy: wine looks for art and art looks for wine, because together they are able to elevate a concept of universal and cross-cutting culture. Wineries are increasingly hosting exhibitions, artworks, and artists, confirming themselves as active players on the contemporary scene. Not by chance, according to the mapping by MetodoContemporaneo, the first permanent Italian observatory on art and the wine landscape promoted by the University of Verona, together with Bam! Strategie Culturali, more than 60 Italian wineries have built and maintain a close liaison with the world of art.
Among the pioneering wineries in Italy linking wine and art since the 1970s, and which have therefore opened a “main road” in this partnership, there is certainly Ca’ del Bosco, one of the most prestigious names in Italian viticulture. Founded by Maurizio Zanella, a key figure in Franciacorta and on the international wine scene (and which saw the entry of the Marzotto family in 1994, now with the Herita Marzotto Wine Estates group, ed), it recently announced the winner of the “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award” No. 2, established in 2023 and dedicated to large outdoor sculptures created by Italian artists under 40. The award was conceived with a dual aim: to strengthen and make indelible the strong bond between art and Ca’ del Bosco, and to formalize an already solid relationship through patronage capable of enhancing it with the infinite imaginative capacities of the new generation of artists.
The “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award” No. 2 was won by Italian-Senegalese visual artist Binta Diaw with the work “Fundamenta”. As stated in the technical description of the work, “fundamenta means “foundations,”, but in its archaic sound it also evokes the idea of that which founds, supports, and guides over time. Not only material bases, but generative principles. In dialogue with Ca’ del Bosco, the term takes on further depth: the foundations of the company are not made solely of concrete matter - grapes, vineyards, soil - but also of intangible values such as work, family, and tradition. Fundamenta thus becomes a declaration of rooting and, at the same time, an act of recognition toward what, though invisible, supports all growth”.
With this victory, Binta Diaw receives a cash prize in recognition of personal merit, as well as funding for the actual realization of the work, which will be installed in the Ca’ del Bosco sculpture park, thereby becoming part of the winery’s art collection alongside other “gems”. These include “Cancello Solare”, the work commissioned from Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1985, a beautiful and iconic entrance gate to the winery. There is also a diffuse art gallery, both indoors and outdoors, featuring highly significant works such as “Eroi di Luce” - “Heroes of Light” by Igor Mitoraj, “Codice Genetico” - “Genetic Code” by Rabarama, “Il peso del tempo sospeso” - “The Weight of Suspended Time” by Stefano Bombardieri, “Blue Guardians” by Cracking Art, “Water in Dripping” by Zheng Lu, “Il Testimone” - “The Witness” by Mimmo Paladino, and “Sound of Marble” by Tsuyoshi Tane.
The podium of the award is completed by sculptors Apollinaria Broche with the work “Attraverso l’Intreccio” - “Through the interweaving” and Monia Ben Hamouda with “Aniconism as Figuration Urgency (Semantics of What Lies Beneath)”: a fully female success, as was the case in the first edition. In addition to the top three finalists, Jacopo Belloni, Bea Bonafini, Ambra Castagnetti, Antonio Della Guardia, Victor Fotso, Lulù Nuti, and Shafei Xia also qualified. The ten finalist maquettes were exhibited on May 13 at the “Salotto Retori,” a multifunctional space conceived as a meeting point for creatives, thinkers, artists, and collectors, at the headquarters of the Made in Italy brand founded in 2024 by creative director Salma Rachid.
Maurizio Zanella, president of Ca’ del Bosco, stated that “Ca’ del Bosco means, above all, listening to nature and giving its variable forms the opportunity to express themselves through the help of humans, who act as custodians of an extraordinary territory by cultivating it, but not consuming it. Binta Diaw was able to interpret the values of Ca’ del Bosco, providing a very modern and original vision of roots. The support of Venetian Heritage, and in particular its director Toto Bergamo in identifying a high-quality jury capable in turn of interpreting the dream of Ca’ del Bosco, contributed to the perfect success of the project”.
Toto Bergamo Rossi, director of the Venetian Heritage Foundation (and president of the jury), declared that “it is an honor for me and for the Foundation I represent to continue contributing to the success of the second edition of the Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award. Venetian Heritage works to preserve, restore, and promote the immense Venetian cultural heritage, which constantly requires care and attention, attention which must also be directed toward those approaching contemporary art in our country. This partnership with Ca’ del Bosco aims to promote young talents, giving them visibility and recognizing their work”. Completing the jury, there are Lidia Berlingieri Leopardi, collector; Caroline Corbetta, art curator; Davide Dotti, art critic and curator of Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia; Arturo Galansino, director general of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation in Florence; Pepi Marchetti Franchi, director of the Gagosian Gallery in Rome; and Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, president of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation.