Unveiling of “Ombre sicure: una bella favola” in San Casciano

On 15 October 2025, Paolo Fusi’s installation “Ombre sicure: una bella favola” was unveiled in San Casciano: a corten steel work conceived as a visual story about the relationship between our way of life and the fragility of the ecosystems that sustain us every day.

The work has sometimes been read as a simple “fairy tale with a happy ending”, but its meaning is more complex and less reassuring. “Ombre sicure” stages a seemingly serene world, where everything looks easy, taken for granted and guaranteed. In reality, this balance is only possible thanks to the protection offered by nature: a protection that humankind is gradually using up.

Across the large corten “pop-up scroll”, figures and plants follow one another (the Fiori Fantasy, a recurring element in my work), separated by a coloured line marking the boundary between a world that is still protected and a zone of decay, fear and violence. Beyond that line, a happy ending is far from certain: the light of the sun, which for centuries has lit up reality and fairy tales, can turn into destructive energy if the balance with the environment is lost.

With this installation I did not want to tell a simple moral, but to open a reflection: how much of our everyday well-being depends on “naive” habits, incompatible with the rhythms of nature? And how aware are we that, without its protection, even our “safe shadows” can vanish?

The unveiling on 15 October was a chance to share this thought with the San Casciano community and with anyone willing to stop, read the scene and let the work raise questions rather than answers.

Detail of the work