A gentle invasion of small works in the ancient Castello di Semivicoli, perched on the hills overlooking the Maiella, in the province of Chieti. His words exude love and respect for nature. That he, with a ' calm exuberance from 'romagnolo zen' (ipse dixit), transforms poetically into art and design.

How was the collaboration for Masciarelli Art Project born?

I was invited to the Castello di Semivicoli by Marina Cvetic and Miriam Lee Masciarelli (today at the helm of the winery, respectively wife and daughter of Gianni Masciarelli, prematurely deceased pioneer of Abruzzo viticulture modern, ed) for the second edition of their project of residences of artist, with the intention of leaving a site specific work .

The inspiration was immediate, in two days I developed the idea. I immediately perceived genuineness, tradition, an honest relationship with the land and viticulture. I said to myself: nature is the protagonist here, I can't do a invasive work, I don't want to add anything dystonic.

What is the concept of the ’ installation Ad Naturam?

Wandering around the vineyards and the cellar, they told me how minor but fundamental characters intervene in the production of wine. Like the ladybug, an insect friend of the winemaker, because it feeds on the parasites of the vine. The wonder of such an elegant, silent, orderly nature a, I could reproduce it, I thought, without being too loud. From there the idea of creating life-size brass casting to be set in the castle, on the objects, on the furniture, on the walls, on the benches in the garden.

A gentle invasion. Four subjects: the ladybird, the snail, because she is patient and works slowly, the ape which represents industriousness, the sprout, a symbol of life. I produced 400 microfusions with goldsmith techniques, distributed almost imperceptibly to a distracted eye. The rooms of the castle exude history, the furnishings have the patina of time, the materials are opaque, the plaster stained, the wood cracked; the insertion of gold micro objects of jewelery creates a supermodern contrast.

Nature and the animal world are your constant design reference. Why?

I think that beauty happens when you recognize yourself, and I recognize myself in nature. It's good for me. I see life in organic forms, branches remind me of veins. People tend to differentiate between man and nature. Yet we are the maximum expression of it, and we are dissociating from it. It is a theme that I hear a lot. I feel the physical need to surround myself with natural subjects to feel better, even if they are fake.

It's a bit the dynamics of children's fairy tales with animals as protagonists: in a metaphorical key everything becomes more understandable, you listen more to the heart, you are more sensitive to intuitions, you are more relaxed. I tell stories with animals starting with the monkey (Monkey Lamp by Seletti) because we are the monkey , it embodies the ' idea of ' evolution bringing the light. The creatures I draw, from mice to giraffes, are ideal, not hyper-realistic, representations; they are easy to read because they are idealized and elegant, as in classic art.

On an almost pathological level (laughs), I'm interested in the concept of identity: mine and the reality of things. Digging, going backwards in the why of my emotions, I arrive and stop at nature in its meaning of evolution, at the question "where do we come from"? Hence the monkey.

Do you consider yourself more of a designer or artist?

I find it very hard to define myself as an artist, because I have too much respect for art. The gestation of a project is very painful for me, I am a perfectionist: in a finished object I see the effort made to create it or the perfection not reached. And these are torments more as an artist than as a designer. I have my own production of unique pieces or limited editions that sees me conversing directly with collectors, but at the same time I also carry on many collaborations with companies, including Qeeboo, Seletti, Natuzzi, Horm.

Who are your reference designers?

I fell in love with design seeing the works of Ingo Maurer. They are not objects, it is functional poetry. That was the spark. But I also look at Fish and Munari. I've always needed poetry, even nonsense, bordering on the conceptual.