Humanitas | Florence

Official: The exhibition will be extended until 25 November 2025

29 April 2025- 25 November 2025 Exhibition opening: 10 May 2025

After having dedicated the work Tree of Peace to Florence, to commemorate the victims of the Via dei Georgofili massacre, Andrea Roggi returns to the Tuscan capital with a new exhibition. From 10 May to 8 August 2025, the Basilica di San Lorenzo complex will host Humanitas. La Forza dell'Amore, which explores the artist's artistic language, establishing a connection with the history and space of the place.
Roggi's monumental bronze sculptures, exhibited in numerous European and non-European cities, are unmistakable thanks to a highly original stylistic signature and an extraordinary expressive force. His figures, depicted in embraces in a synthesis of strength and tenderness, as in Per sempre Tu or in Un Amore senza Tempo, take on the appearance of tree trunks and their arms, turned towards the sky, turn into olive tree fronds, whose golden leaves seem to release vital energy. The roots are often inscribed in the globe, a sign of a deep and unbreakable bond with nature. They are representations of the Tree of Life, a theme that has always been dear to Roggi, emanations of vital energy, a union of matter and spirit. The dynamic fusion technique, invented and patented by the artist himself, allows these works to defy the laws of physics, suspending matter in incredible balances that create a unique relationship with the environments in which they are placed.
Humanitas. La Forza dell'Amore (The Strength of Love), curated by art historian Laura Speranza, recounts, through nine works, the long career of the Tuscan artist, starting from the first anthropomorphic bronze statue, Atman, created by Roggi in the 1980s, in his early twenties, using the lost-wax casting technique, and placed in the small cloister of the basilica, up to the most recent L'Energia della Conoscenza (The Energy of Knowledge), conceived for this exhibition. The most recent sculptures combine traditional casting with microcasting and dynamic casting, creating a variety of material effects that are a sign of constant evolution in artistic research. Four large bronzes will have as their backdrop the unfinished façade of the Brunelleschi-designed basilica and its side fixture, both in warm sandstone. 
In the large cloister to the left of the Laurentian church, four more works will be exhibited that will confront the rigour of its Renaissance architecture. This space, with its lush greenery and the orange tree that stands in the centre, becomes a perfect natural stage for Roggi's sculptures. In his poetic imagery, we often find the tree element, a symbol of life and connection: whether it be the olive tree or, at times, the cypress, distinctive presences in the Tuscan landscape, they are linked to the iconography of the great ancient and modern pictorial tradition, from Beato Angelico to Leonardo, from Paolo Uccello to Ottone Rosai and Ardengo Soffici.

Next to these bronze trees, the public will be invited to come into contact with human figures that seem to dance in the air, suspended, like Families in Flight, while a globe - made by fretwork, with rounds of people, children, men and women, modelled in the round - celebrates human diversity in an embrace of peace. This performance, entitled Imagine all the people, inspired by John Lennon's famous song, invites us to reflect on the value of peace, in the hope that the differences between human beings become a point of strength and not of division.

The Basilica of San Lorenzo, one of the symbols of Florence's history and identity, proves to be the ideal place to host Andrea Roggi's works, amplifying the message of Humanitas and its depth. In an era that often seems to forget the importance of solidarity and mutual care, these sculptures remind us that we are all part of a larger community. The concept of Humanitas, deeply rooted in Latin culture, becomes the bearer of a universal message: the need to care for others, to recognise our shared humanity and to act with awareness, to build a better world.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue, published by Giunti Editore, which will also be an opportunity to discover the background that gives life to these extraordinary sculptures, from their genesis starting with the drawing, then moving on to modelling in clay, and finishing with the casting of the metal alloy and its refinishing. More than ever, Andrea Roggi's art becomes a vehicle for reflection, beauty and hope, in a profound dialogue with history and humanity.

Humanitas
The Force of Love
Works by Andrea Roggi Florence, Basilica of San Lorenzo Complex
10 May - 15 November 2025

ANDREA ROGGI
Peace Tree Hall of 500
Palazzo Vecchio Florence

On the thirtieth anniversary of the Georgofili massacre, Maestro Andrea Roggi replicated the display of the tree of peace donated to the city of Florence and installed in a permanent installation behind Palazzo Vecchio in Via dei Georgofili, the site of the attack, to symbolise the hope for a better future without the obligation to commemorate inhuman massacres such as the one that befell the city on 27 May 1993.

The new sculpture created by the International Artist was displayed on the stage of the Salone dei 500 in Palazzo Vecchio throughout the commemorative event. 

Hope for a better world and a better future, is the message that gently rises from Roggi's work, life is to be savoured and nourished equally, the feeling of love that arises from this interaction is something powerful and incredibly satisfying, the positive energy we derive from it allows us to appreciate all of creation with eyes full of renewed confidence.

THE SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO WAS THE THEATRE FOR THE Venetian exhibition of the energy of life.
21 December 2023 - 8 January 2024

Until 8 January, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco hosts the sculpture Energy of life created by master Andrea Roggi with the collaborative touch of the great master goldsmith Martin Katz of Los Angeles.
Exploring one's roots, dissecting the material elements, bronze and marble, of the creative process is the starting point of this exhibition. Special for the inclusion in a large work by Master Roggi, the man and the tree, symbols par excellence of life, of a golden sphere by Master Martin Katz composed of over two thousand rare stones, which holds within itself the philosophy of the art of the two great masters in a symbolic embrace, as a strong message of peace and brotherhood addressed to all the peoples of the world, representing the birth of life.
The event, curated by Rina Dal Canton, is promoted by the AIL Venezia-Associazione Italiana contro Leucemie, linfomi e mieloma, president Giovanni Alliata di Montereale, in collaboration with the Associazione Paolo Rizzi ETS, president Piergiorgio Baroldi, SKAL Venezia, president Domenico Stanziani and the Vittorio Cini Archive Foundation.

The work is presented in the presence of the artists, Franco Posocco, Guardian Grando of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Bruno Bernardi, President of the Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, and Stefano Cecchetto, art historian. Introduction by Chiara Tagliaferro.
This will be followed by a piano concert by international pianist Letizia Michielon, who will perform music by Frédéric Chopin.

The exhibition of Andrea Roggi and Martin Katz's work is open daily from 22 December to 8 January from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays.

ITALIAN SCULPTOR ANDREA ROGGI AND BEVERLY HILLS JEWELLER MARTIN KATZ COLLABORATE TO UNVEIL AN ART INSTALLATION ON THE ENERGY OF LIFE IN FLORENCE

From 3 to 6 November 2023, the work Energy of Life was exhibited in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. The exhibition features a bronze sculpture created by Andrea Roggi and a jewelled sphere designed by Martin Katz to represent life energy in an original work never before exhibited in Europe.
The exhibition represents the meeting of two masters: a Tuscan sculptor and a Hollywood jeweller who share the same philosophy and desire to work together to create a work - the Energy of Life - that echoes a powerful social message. A new art form linked to humanity, a shared mission encapsulated in an installation that will be presented for the first time in Florence during the Festival dell'Italia Gentile, the Italian expression of the International Kindness Movement born from the bestselling book The Biology of Kindness by sociologist and biologist Daniel Lumera and geneticist Immacolata de Vivo.
The exhibition is realised with the support of the City of Florence and the Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture Alessia Bettini.

The sphere - skilfully created in relief to represent Mother Earth - is the embodiment of the source of energy in the Tree of Life sculpture. Made of 18-carat white gold, it was handcrafted in Martin Katz's Atelier and features more than 2,000 gemstones with over 8,000 prong settings containing shades of blue sapphires, Paraiba tourmalines, Tsavorite garnets and white diamonds.

ENERGY OF LIFE

At the heart of the majestic Tree of Life, a small sphere - the Energy of Life - is revealed, capturing the attention of every passer-by. This work of art, the result of a collaboration between the renowned sculptor Andrea Roggi and the internationally renowned jewellery designer Martin Katz, is an extraordinary testimony to their exceptional mastery in capturing the very essence of life through the sensory expression of bronze, combined with the preciousness of the goldsmith's art.
The meeting of these two artists provoked an urgent need to unite their creative minds, coming from profoundly different and geographically distant artistic backgrounds, in order to create a work of extraordinary beauty that echoes a powerful social message.
The sphere cradles within itself an unstoppable life force, creating a profound bond between all life forms. Its surface, meticulously crafted in every detail, releases light, generating a visual spectacle of shadows and reflections. Life Energy challenges our traditional concept of reality, prompting us to explore the perception and awareness of a new world, a world connected by empathy and care for others. It reminds us that not everything that is precious is visible to our eyes, which is why we must rediscover the sensitivity to recognise its presence in our daily lives.
The natural element of the tree blends harmoniously with the abstract form of the sphere: a symphony of senses where each being experiences an emotional flow of unity.