Menfi
VERSOTERRA is a unique project born in Menfi, at the Ulmo estate of Planeta, aiming to raise awareness about climate change. Through site-specific art installations by international artists, the project invites reflection on the consequences of the environmental emergency in the Mediterranean region.
The artworks, harmoniously integrated into the rural landscape, serve as a stimulus for deep reflection on issues such as desertification, rising sea levels, and loss of biodiversity.
VERSOTERRA goes beyond art by organizing in-depth meetings with experts to expand knowledge and foster constructive dialogue about the future of our planet.
A highly valuable project that combines art, environment, and commitment to a sustainable future.
Noto
At Cantina Planeta in Buonivini, amidst the hills of Val di Noto, Claire Fontaine’s site-specific installation “Patriarchy = CO2” was showcased as part of the collective exhibition Àlma Venùs. Originally conceived for Dior in autumn 2021, the installation featured illuminated phrases suspended on the catwalk, with ecofeminist themes such as “Women are the moon that moves the tides” and “Patriarchy = climate emergency.” Adapted collaboratively for Planeta’s cultural initiatives, it seamlessly integrated with the architectural aesthetics of the cellar designed by Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo.
The installation, blending with the sky during the day, symbolically highlighted the invisible yet pervasive impacts of patriarchy and carbon emissions in our intensely cultivated natural environment. Fontaine’s work aimed to provoke reflection on unsustainable social norms, promoting transformative change towards a more harmonious relationship with nature and human connections, challenging harmful patriarchal structures and environmental degradation.
Noto
On August 2, 2023, at Planeta’s Buonivini winery in Noto, the exhibition “A Dilemma for a Starry Night” by artist Emiliano Maggi, curated by Vito Planeta, was inaugurated. The evening featured a performance by the duo I Canzonieri, composed of Maggi himself and musician Cosimo Damiano. This second performance by the duo, which debuted during the 9th edition of Viaggio in Sicilia, captivated the audience under the starry skies of Noto. The performance, inspired by the writings of medieval poet Al-Ballanubi, accompanied a selection of works reflecting on the mathematical theme of the dilemma and the ambivalences between past and future, day and night, in a creative dialogue with Sicily.
Etna
Born from the collaboration with the Merz Foundation as part of their Sicilian programming, the idea to present Mario Merz’s “Fibonacci Sequence, 2002” at the Sciaranuova Festival 2019 – Teatro in Vigna was conceived. The lighting of the artwork took place on July 27, 2019, during the 5th edition of the theater festival promoted by Planeta in the “Teatro in Vigna” at Sciaranuova, on Etna, under the artistic direction of Ottavia Casagrande. The installation accompanied the performance of “Gli alti e bassi di Biancaneve,” directed by Emma Dante. Today, it remains visible at the Sciaranuova estate in Passopisciaro.
Etna
For the eighth edition of Viaggio in Sicilia, artist Claire Fontaine created the site-specific installation “Ettore Majorana.” This luminous artwork, a twenty-meter neon sign, features a quote from Leonardo Sciascia’s novel about Majorana: “si divertiva a versar per terra e disperdere l’acqua della scienza sotto gli occhi di coloro che ne erano assetati.” The phrase captures Majorana’s enigmatic personality, a physicist who mysteriously disappeared in 1938. The work draws inspiration from Majorana’s nearby summer retreat, highlighting the connection between art, science, and the local landscape.
VIAGGIO IN SICILIA
Menfi, Vittoria, Noto, Etna, Capo Milazzo. Our Viaggio in Sicilia, not a random route and strongly linked to the diversity of landscape, the winds, the character of men and their wines, this project offers not only our interpretation but a glance at art. We host painters, photographers and writers, Italians and foreigners, and guide them through the districts that we have chosen for our vines and their wineries, during the harvest. We leave them the freedom to describe them with their pictures and emotions, capturing the spirit of each place. At the end of each journey we welcome the artists to the house at Ulmo, where they begin their creative work; in the following June all the work appears in an exhibition and one of each of their selected works, in the same spirit, contributes to family collection. It is our way of looking at our land, always with new eyes.
