L’indicatore, 2009

Corten steel, 1780×50 cm
SS 68 location: Spicchiaiola

“The spot the inhabitants of Volterra refer to as “L’Indicatore” (The Indicator), located near a place called Spicchiaiola, is a panoramic viewpoint you encounter when driving down SS68, which connects Colle Val d’Elsa to Volterra, a spectacular road running along the ridges of the hills around the Val di Cecina and Val d’Era valleys, and continuing down to the sea. This place marks the border between the province territory of Pisa and that of Siena. Not very far away you can see the ruins of an ancient tower, a visual indicator of the borderline which, during the Middle Ages, divided the territory of Volterra from that of San Gimignano: the now lost castle and tower of Montemiccioli. Besides serving as a border customs office and lookout point, it protected the territory of Volterra. The high stele by Staccioli was erected as a symbolical, new lookout tower – only it cannot control nor protect, but only mark a border that must be crossed. Here, the sculpture asserts itself as the catalyzing center, a point of interchange, the peremptory affirmation of a border that you always have to cross in your search for the other, a relationship with the world that this isolated and harsh land needs to seek. The work thus marks the beginning of the path, forcing us to cast a glance at Volterra, whose skyline appears not too far away, on the top of its hill.”
Simona Santini in Mauro Staccioli. Volterra 1972-2009. Luoghi d’esperienza, Damiani, Bologna, 2009