The Garden of Daniel Spoerri
In the early 1990s, Romanian-born Spoerri created a sculpture garden of 16 hectors in the town of Seggiano. Ninety installations are placed among 200 olive trees and the remains of old vineyards and chestnut woods.
All of the works are by Spoerri and his close friends, 40 different artists in all, and the overall whimsical nature of the works indicates that each artist enjoyed working on the installation. Spoerri, for example, frequents flea markets for materials and objects for his sculptures.
Nine of the artists who contributed installations to Il Giardino Spoerri are women, all allegedly connected to Spoerri as a wife, lover, or student.
Among them are Eve Aeppli, who did six installations in the park. She was the first wife of Jean Tinguely, the renowned French kinetic sculptor. Tinguely’s second wife was sculptor Niki de Saint-Phalle, whose monumental works are near Grosseto, in her Tarot Garden.
Meret Oppenheim was the subject of a series of photographs by Man Ray in 1939, one of which you can see in the Alinari National Museum of Photography in Florence (she is standing nude, next to a printing press).
Other women artists whose work is in the Spoerri garden include Ursi Luginbühl, Katharina Duwen, Birgit Neuman, Suzanne Runge, Nora Schöpfer, Esther Seidel, and Juliane Kühn.
Give yourself three hours to walk the park and enjoy the art. A fabulous restaurant, filled with works by Spoerri, serves lunch (12:30pm to 2pm; verbal menu only.) Try the zuppa di carne, the spaghetti all’arrabbiata, and the torta di frutta, made from fruits from the giardino.
IL GIARDINO DI DANIEL SPOERRI
2 km from the town of Seggiano, near Grosseto
April 1 to July 1, Tuesday through Sunday, 11am to 8pm.
July 1 to September 15, daily 11am to 8pm.
September 15 to October 31, Tuesday through Sunday 11am to 7pm.
November through March, by appointment only.
Entrance:10 euro
el. 056/4950805
www.danielspoerri.org; ilgiardino@ilsilene.it
Getting there: Take the train from Florence to the Siena station. Once in Siena catch a RAMA bus to Seggiano.
Niki de Saint-Phalle’s Tarot Garden, largely influenced by Gaudí’s Parc Guell in Barcelona, is a monumental sculpture park that reflects a woman’s perspective. This stunning, whimsical sculpture garden features pieces made with mirrors, glass, and ceramic mosaics-materials de Saint-Phalle had not used previously. She explores the human condition on a monumental scale, and her bright combinations of buildings and sculptures reflect the metaphysical qualities represented in the 22 main cards of the Tarot.
THE TAROT GARDEN BY NIKI DE SAINT-PHALLE
via Aurelia, Garavicchio-Capalbio
April 1 to October 15,
2:30pm to 7:30pm
Group visits only from
November to March, 8am to 4pm
Tel. 056/4895122
Entrance: 10.50 euro
Getting there: Take the train from Florence to Orbetello or Monte Argentario; then catch a local bus to Capalbio.
