For this second edition of I.D.E.A. Salento, Nicoletta Rusconi has chosen to collaborate with Davide Meretti, who hosts the initiative at Masseria Canali. Sotto Verde Manto is the result of the stay of the Genuardi/Ruta duo in the Masseria and their journey to discover Salento, to understand, in depth, ways, myths and rites of maritime and peasant civilizations, in an intertwining of legends, stories, colors and architectures of the extraordinary surrounding area.

See also the installation by Giulia Lanza at Masseria Cultura

Genuardi/Ruta trigger an indoor dialogue starting from the shapes that distinguish their stylistic language and the landscape that surrounds them: ancient buildings and rock caves, cities and monuments, Saracen towers, green expanses and amber stones.

The intervention was carried out ad hoc in the spaces of the Masseria using helical structures, bodies dressed with opaque and reflective surface fabrics, communicating with the internal environment and in harmony with the functional and aesthetic needs of a private home.

The duo investigates the constitutive factors of space, redefining architecture through painting, translating the encounter of light with the volumes of the building, always keeping the balance between a geometry of reality and a visionary one at the limit.

The geometries that Genuardi/Ruta bring into play are always the result of a research on light, on the volumes it intercepts and on the cuts it defines. Their reflection on space, whose relationship with light makes up the fulcrum of their work, does not derive from a technical-analytical matrix but expresses a wealth of remote memories.

The context in which the artists lived and created is among the most fascinating: an old farmhouse of the late nineteenth century in the heart of Salento surrounded by tens of hectares of centuries-old olive trees. Recently renovated, the building is inserted in a district from which it takes its name whose life in ancient times revolved around the cultivation of the olive tree and pastoralism. The farm was used to shelter livestock and to keep stocks and agricultural tools, as well as to house some settlers. Fulcrum of the life of the district, Masseria Canali guaranteed bread and water to all the farmers employed in the fields thanks to the well and the wood-burning oven.

Its original structure, built in successive stages, has been modified and expanded over the years, creating an overlap of eras and styles that can be easily read from the outside. After years of neglect, Masseria Canali was bought in 2015 by Davide Meretti. Despite the poor state of conservation, all the portions of major architectural and historical value have been preserved intact.

If the exterior of the house is clearly in Salento style, the interiors have an international flavor given by vintage furnishings and objects, coming from antiques markets, fairs and the owner's travels, in an enveloping blend of cultures, styles and colors. which embraces Italy, France, England and Morocco.