Naples – A bronze Pinocchio that seems to have come out of a dream, with its rough surface like real wood and that nose stretched towards the sky, has become from today the new symbol of rebirth of Market Square.
The installation “OH!” by artist Marcello Jori, inaugurated this morning in the presence of Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, curator Vincenzo Trione and architect Giovanni Francesco Frascino, is a tribute to the most famous puppet in the world, but also a metaphor for the transformation of one of the most historic (and complex) places in Naples.
Made of bronze but with a texture that mimics the porosity of wood, the sculpture recalls the Pinocchio that Jori has already told in his rewritten and illustrated version of Collodi's masterpiece (published in 2018).
"It is not a simple statue - explains Trione - but an exercise between loyalty and betrayal, as if Jori had directed a film based on the book. Pinocchio here is no longer just a character: he is an icon that speaks of metamorphosis, truth and fantasy".
The installation is part of the “Napoli Contemporanea 2025” program, promoted by the Manfredi administration to bring art out of museums and regenerate urban spaces.
"Art must contaminate daily life," says the mayor, "and Pinocchio, with his desire to become "real," is the perfect message for a square that is experiencing a new spring."
After the restoration of the Church of Santa Croce, in fact, Piazza Mercato confirms itself as the beating heart of a larger project: exhibitions, laboratories and workshops will transform the area into a cultural hub open to all.
The artist, excited, revealed the origin of the work:
"My gallery owner Emilio Mazzoli asked me to make a Pinocchio. I said yes with the recklessness of a child... and today that dream is here, alive, in one of the liveliest squares in the world."
USEFUL INFO
Where: Piazza Mercato, Naples
Until: October 5, 2025
Free admission
A story of wood that becomes bronze, in a square that wants to come back to life.
Because, as Jori says, "the art closest to life is that which is not afraid to come out into the open."
Article published on May 31, 2025 - 14:36 pm
