Casa-studio di Fernando Melani

Fernando Melani’s house-studio in Pistoia preserves the artist’s works and materials in the arrangement he gave them. Metal experiments, sheet metal and iron wires occupy ceilings, walls and floors, making the studio itself part of the work.

Why it matters

Melani (1907–1985) used the house as an environment for artistic research. Its rooms offer a way to understand his practice in relation to movements including Arte Povera, Conceptual Art and Minimal Art, while retaining the setting in which the work developed.

What to notice

The works are not separated from the materials and surroundings that shaped them. Accumulated objects, experiments with metals, sheet-metal pieces and wires hanging from the ceiling remain arranged as Melani left them.

Context and history

The Municipality of Pistoia acquired the house and more than 2,800 works in 1987, then restored the building while preserving its contents. In 2005, the civic collection grew through a bequest of 148 works from Donatella Giuntoli. The house-studio remains an unusually direct record of Melani’s artistic process and its development through the second half of the twentieth century.