Chapel for the cemetry of Azzano di Seravezza, Italy
1999/2000-2001
Project
1999
Construction
2000-2001
Location
Azzano di Seravezza, Lucca, Italy
Commissioned by
Mite Giannetti D’Angiolo O.N.L.U.S Foundation
Sculptor Artist
Maestro Giuliano Vangi
The new funerary chapel is set in the small
cemetery
of San Martino presso Cappella in Azzano di Seravezza, in
Tuscany
’s historic Versilia district. It is at the foot of
Mount
Altissimo
, famous for its impressive marble quarries that were appreciated by no less than Michelangelo. The funerary shrine is aligned with the entrance to the twentieth-century extension of the cemetery and backs up to the wall at the foot of the mountain. Extremely austere in form, the chapel is set on a base from which the altar juts out along the front. On three sides, it is defined by walls that rise impressively from the ground to tilt towards the mountain, as if following its slope. The roofing is a lightweight lens-shaped metal structure that extends towards the valley to cover the altar, and it is slightly detached from the bearing walls to offer visitors a glimpse of the sky as they approach. The bearing structure is made of reinforced concrete clad with polished local Bardiglio Cappella marble that is velvety grey in colour. Marble was also used for the altar, whereas the roofing is in stainless steel. In keeping with the local tradition for places of worship, the use of marble restores a nobler material to the cemetery with respect to the modest terracotta brickwork used extensively during the last century. Sculptor Giuliano Vangi used the marble cladding of the back wall as a medium for an enthralling bas-relief portraying Job in the desert, gently kissed by the light entering through two vertical slits in the side walls. With this project, the architect and the artist seek to renew the dialectical rapport between architecture and sculpture: once again, the two arts interact as they have done over the past centuries, with their individual, essential and distinct expressive languages.
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