Introduction by Prof.Omar Calabrese to the book: ” The park-museums of contemporary sculpture“, by A. Massa (an extract from her sold-out book)
“…… Antonella Massa has achieved an original and thorough investigation on some of these more or less ancient parks, and she allows us to relive their paths, their history, their projects and effects through a pleasant and cultured read. A read that is enriched by beautiful iconographic research that is at times characterized by an archaeological adventure that nobody seems to notice anymore. We could therefore argue that this book is an important sign, exactly the same kind that we have just mentioned regarding the new art patrons’ frame of mind: the sign of a return to good taste. Research, in fact, is carried out even when the pleasure returns for the object being searched, which is never innocent, but which follows the same aesthetics principles, albeit intellectual. This book is therefore written in a positive manner – some of it is Mannerist and some is Baroque, like most of the things it talks about and describes. A bit of Mannerism and a bit of Baroque: in the sense that it is orientated towards praising what is amazing and wonderful, from which the parks and gardens that the books talks about take their origin. “