Costantino Nivola . photos: © Massimo Curzi Architetto . sketches: © library of Nuoro
Designed between 1966 and 1967 by Costantino Nivola, Piazza Satta is one of the few projects by the Sardinian artist, near his birthplace. Commissioned by the administration of the city of Nuoro to create a statue in memory of the local poet Salvatore Satta, Nivola decides instead to commemorate him through the project of the entire square. It superimposes large stones from the top of the nearby Ortobene mountain on the rigid grid of the pavement, made of 40×40 gray granite shapes. At large stones, he carves spaces with geometric shapes to house small sculptures that tell aspects of the poet’s life. A collection of “objet trouvé” with a “poetic reaction” inspired by the memory of the close friendship between Nivola and Le Corbusier in New York. The project and its details demonstrate the importance of physically feeling the architectural forms in an empathic and poetic way.
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