“Handandland” , by Irene Coppola, is the first artwork to win the “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award”

Ca’ del Bosco, leading winery in Franciacorta, led by Maurizio Zanella, is one of the pioneer wineries among the many now that support and promote projects and links with the arts, on the Italian and global level. Zanella’s winery is among the ones that “set a trend”, as early as the 1970s, when the area, which later became the reference point for Italian Classic Method sparkling wines, was taking the first steps in the wine “renaissance”. The bond is deep and “true”, and is felt immediately firsthand upon entering Arnaldo Pomodoro’s famous “Cancello Solare”, which all the senses acknowledge and appreciate in every corner of the splendid Erbusco Estate. The winner of the first edition of the “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award”, founded in 2023 and dedicated to large outdoor sculptures created by Italian artists under 40, was awarded just recently. The artist, Irene Coppola, won first prize with her artwork, “Handandland”, a poetic design in blown neon placed on the external steps of the winery’s production area, where grapes are processed. The spirals, from which the words “hand and land” emerge, are based on the structure of the tendril, typical of climbing plants such as the vine; that is, the tactile extension that allows it to support itself and grow beyond the stem. The artist created her work, following a thorough study of the area between the vineyards and the long corridor of the portico, in line with the historical work of the Ca’ del Bosco collection entitled, “Heroes of Light” by the artist Igor Mitoraj.
The artist, Irene Coppola, born in 1991 in Palermo, has won a monetary prize in recognition of personal merit, as well as a sum to cover the expenses of actually creating the work. Her artwork will be placed in the Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Park, thereby rightfully entering the winery’s art collection. The second and third prize winners of the award went to the sculptors, Giulia Cenci and her art work “Crescita Secondaria” and Benni Bosetto’s “Perle”, decreeing an all-female success.
Maurizio Zanella, president of Ca’ del Bosco, envisioned the “Ca’ del Bosco Sculpture Award’ in respect of its founding characteristics: wine, art, culture, Renaissance, tradition, innovation, ecology, ethics and education. The award was created with a double intent. The first is to strengthen and make the existing bond permanent between art and Ca’ del Bosco, one of the excellent wineries in Franciacorta, and top player of the Italian winemaking “renaissance”. The second is the desire to institutionalize the existing solid relationship by an action of patronage that will strengthen it through the infinite skills and imaginative possibilities of the new artistic generation. “Ca’ del Bosco means first of all listening to nature and giving its various forms the possibility of expressing themselves through man’s help, who becomes the guardian of an extraordinary territory by cultivating it”, Maurizio Zanella, president of Ca’ del Bosco (“Wine Legend” 2023 for the German magazine “Der Feinschmecker”), said, “but not consuming it. Irene Coppola has interpreted the values of Ca’ del Bosco, providing a very modern and original vision of the vine branch. The support of “Venetian Heritage” and especially of its director, Toto Bergamo, who selected a quality jury that, in turn, knew how to interpret Ca’ del Bosco’s dream, made the project a success. The motto of Venetian Heritage is “Restoring the past, building the future”. This concept is not very different from the balance between tradition and innovation that has always guided the rebirth of our wine culture and that Irene Coppola comprehended and made her own”. “Venetian Heritage”, Toto Bergamo Rossi, director of the Foundation, and also president of the Award jury, explained, “deals with preserving, restoring and promoting the immense Venetian cultural heritage, which requires constant care and attention. Attention should also be paid to those who are new to contemporary art in our country. The partnership with Ca’ del Bosco is aimed at promoting young talents by giving them visibility and acknowledging their work”.
The link between Ca’ del Bosco and art began in the 1970s, when Maurizio Zanella became aware of the profound link between wine and artistic imagination, as both are the result of a magical union with nature, thought, the soul and the senses. This is the reason why the entrance to Ca’ del Bosco is from the “Solar Gate”, the work commissioned to Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1985, and placed at the winey in 1993. The gate is a circular structure, 5 meters in diameter, which opens into two semicircles of 25 quintals of bronze each. This is only the gateway to a world, which, since the first vineyards were planted in 1968, has been built as an outpost of the Italian wine “renaissance”. It is where one of the most modern and technological Italian wineries is located (“European Winery of the Year” 2023 awarded by the US magazine “Wine Enthusiast”), as well as a widespread Art Gallery that dialogues, inside and outside, with works of absolute excellence. Among the many, for instance, “Eroi di Luce” by Igor Mitoraj, “Codice Genetico” by Rabarama, “Il peso del tempo sospeso” by Stefano Bombardieri, “Blue Guardians” by Cracking Art, “Water in dripping” by Zheng Lu, “Il Testimone” by Mimmo Paladino and “Sound of Marble” by Tsuyoshi Tane.