Emerging during the Italian postwar economic rebound, the era of La Dolce Vita, was a diverse group of native and international artists, each of whom found original ways of marrying ancient forms with new methods of painting and sculpture inspired by the history and terrain of central Italy’s Umbria and Tuscany regions. Five of these pathbreaking artists’ archives, with intriguing personal stories to match, are open to the public.
The Beverly Pepper Sculpture Park, Todi, Umbria
The internationally acclaimed sculptor and land artist Beverly Pepper, who made her home in the medieval hilltop city of Todi, was once a Brooklyn girl who began as an art director for advertising agencies. Yet she knew early on that the wider world could better contain her expansive spirit and experimental nature. After art school in New York and Paris—where she was taught by Fernand Léger—she discovered in Rome a more congenial environment and cohort. In 1970, at the age of 48, she relocated permanently to Todi with her husband, the journalist Bill Pepper, where she found enough space, light, natural beauty, and historical culture to absorb her restless talents and energies.
