In Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna, Wolfango's Nativity scene on display.

In the Church of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna will be on display from December 8, 2019 to January 16, 2020 Wolfango’s Nativity scene, a combination of the sacred and the profane, history and contemporaneity, because in addition to the Holy Family, there are Pope John XXIII and Gandhi, the philosopher Hypatia and Charlot, Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina as clowns, the sfogline and Charles V of Habsburg, King Enzo and Father Marella, Garibaldi, Gorbachev Reagan masters of the world and Obama reinterpreting the Statue of Liberty. Also, Eugenio Riccomini and Nino Migliori, Fabio Roversi-Monaco, Aladin Hodzic, the child maimed during the war in former Yugoslavia, a sinful and aging Eve, Mickey Mouse and many others.

The exhibition is curated by the daughter Alighiera Peretti Poggi and is made possible thanks to the collaboration of Genus Bononiae, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna and Rekeep, under the patronage of the Municipality of Bologna and the Church of Bologna.

The nativity scene consists of two hundred terracotta figurines that Wolfango made starting in 1964, the year his daughter Alighiera was born; the artist’s intent was precisely to dedicate to his children Alighiera and Davide the magic he himself had experienced in his childhood.

Wolfango continued to enrich his nativity scene for fifty years, juxtaposing classical religious iconography with places, symbols, objects, and characters from the artist’s own history and intimate, family dimension.

On the upper floor of the monumental complex of Santa Maria della Vita, the public will also be able to admire the sketches and preparatory drawings of the figurines and also the work The Bagpipe in the Moss, exhibited for the first time.

“It’s really a living Nativity, because it has grown as my dad’s life and our children’s lives have grown and been enriched with life, especially the life of Bologna and its more or less illustrious, more or less famous inhabitants. Teachers, teachers, doctors, artisans, entrepreneurs, professors, priests, politicians, loved ones, family members: all became part, year by year, of the great work. What happiness it was to be in the midst of these statues, often as tall as I am, who were friends, good giants, companions on adventures, animated characters who protected me ... and I still experience them that way today. All the statues have names and help us to remember history, to relive it, to know it,” recalls curator and daughter Alighiera Peretti Poggi.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free admission.

Pictured, Wolfango at work.

In Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna, Wolfango's Nativity scene on display.

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