Alchemy with nature .

The entrance of the villa’s gate “Le Querciolaie” by Monteverdi Marittimo, there is a sign indicating: “Rolando Stefanacci – sculptor”, the reproduction of some of his sculptures and the phrase “ALCHEMY WITH NATURE “ A binomial that suits him well: that alchemy science Stefanacci is closely examining for many years now applied to the nature of the immense park surrounding the sixteenth-century villa where he found for some time the quietness for his “working idleness”. A park full of secular oaks and ilexes, Mediterranean bush and flowers of any kind “coming out” from the earth giving him that yellow rose tree stone nuance with which he realized many of his sculptures and through which he built up some original little villas immersed into the vegetation, Stefanacci codified for some time his entire work into a monograph embracing it till 1998. A work that in the latest few years has just assumed aspects of great interest for the quality of its product but, most of all, for those esoteric meanings to be subtended and perceived in the components. “Art – says Stefanacci – is alchemy’. He keeps on: “Since the earliest times, just when men began to turn away from their natural state, the artist comprehends that matter is composed of elements. By distilling the colours from vegetables, ground, oxides and mineral he tries to delinea te the forms through representative scenes of events and hieroglyphs to be used as a primordial but universal communication vehicle. He instinctively apprehends ha can use any material, wood and stone, metal and. anything the marvelous universe shares with him. He feel the uncontrollable need to honor those forces that unable and quite force him to compose and decompose, according to his intimist perception, temples, monuments and divine representations”.

“But why – we ask – art is alchemy”. “In such an endless research – adds Stefanacci – the artist (the man, as well) sees himself as the fruit of an alchemy process. He as well recognise himself as completely absorbed in the cycle of compositions and decompositions, not quite different from the matter he shaped and from the objects he represented. He perceives in an instant to be, firstly, the work of a sublime artist and eterhal, by that way permeated with the soul essence that vivifies the universe. It is the deep consciousness of the perpetual alternation of compositions and decompositions that makes it possible my own existence, of which art is the supreme expression”.
On the spur of this conception arising from deepen studies on the knowledge (“Better making our own way into darkness – he affirms – instead if stop watching the surface”), Stefanacci has in the last few years got on with the study of the hermetic doctrines, of that “great work’ the alchemy, a word dating back from the earliest times that is, in Greece and in Egypt but That in substance proves to be an hermetic science plunging its basis into the permutation of the forms through the spirit.
With time Stefanacci obtained consents and gratifications for his work as an artist and as a man, too. Among the many to be recalled is a writing by professor Antonio Bagni on the occasion of Stefanacci’s artistic intervention in the cemetery of Agliana in Tuscany where he has decorated a chapel with his wonder fui ceramics. Words that englobe the two aspects, Stefanacci’s artistic and human ones: “For those who can grasp it, the meeting with a person is always – he writes – a creative input to fully uve our own human dimension, both in social and individuaI terms. When you meet Rolando Stefanacci, a complete man and artist, you feel inside a fluid that shakes you interiorly pushing you to find in the mystery of existence the sign of a different way -ancient and new at the same time – to breath life”. When there is not the physical presence of Rolando, there are the revealing glazed visions of his ceramics, which in vite you to the search of the arcane reasons of life. His works, fruit o fan intense and deep reflection activity, whether to comprehend or communicate the reality, trans figure in significant symbols the simplest everyday life facts by enlightening them with lights and colours in perfect symbiosis with nature, with the mystery of its seasons, with the sunbeams and the moonshine”.
“I am lucky – he goes on – to uve in Agliana, a little town between Pistoia and Prato, where Rolando, in sign of friendship and with great generosity, has given some of his works, not for a vain search of glory but to leave a trace, a message to those who will see and be able to read them with pure hearth. In the old Town House, beside the stairs leading to the council hall and in front of the exit of the library, stands out one of his ceramics of about three metres and a half of height and one of width, contained in a great and carved walnut frame, in which is the tali figure of a young man, symbol of Agliana Town Hall (young because of his recent history even though with rural medieval origins). He holds a balance by the arms that is, justice, and a dove that is, peace.

Below is the Town House and a crowd of people running into it: the Town House should be a house opened to the participation of all citizens in order to rule in justice and peace”. Meanwhile, under the gallery outside the Technical Commercial School “Aldo Capitini” in the most important school of Agliana, Rolando left the sign of his love for the young and the culture. To the discovering of his work were responsible the young who read Rolando’s ceramics described in their paper “Here the news!”: the work is 1,70 of height, the feet of the represented young man stand on the terrestrial cap where some biblical scenes are featured; the one on the right side is, with emphasis, referable to the fight between Cain and AbeI told in the Genesis; the one on the left side suggests on the contrary different interpretations: someone in fact saw in it the jewish people led by Moses to the Mount Sinai in search for the Tables of the Laws; others the procession of the shepherds to Bethlehem in search for the hut of the Saviour announced to them; in the end someone eke, by reading this image, sees in it the humanity that, from the StoneAge on, walks towards the future and progress.

“L’abbraccio” (Collezione privata
Adholph Broderix)

The young man standing in there, simply dressed and with absorbed air, holds two objects by the hands: on the left one, the book of the divine Law, on the right one the balance representing justice, or, the cultural, historical, religious equilibrium between the people that, unfortunately, are not currently ruled by humanity. The perfect alignment of the two plates represents the wish that the nowadays’ fragile equilibrium becomes stable and lasting in the future. The “Capitini” students concluded this way their article: we hope the presence of this sculpture in our school will be an invitation for everybody to the contemplation of our elves, nature, art and life “.

“In the chapel of the new cemetery “The Garden” in Agliana, Rolando left a big message of hope. Leonetto Tintori, painter and restorer Pra tese, who Is well known in the artistic background, explains the meaning:
con firms his willingness to the renewal and exploitation of the deepest human feelings by proposing a meditation on moral and artistic values of fundamental importance. The general concept on which the decoration is based consists in the serene vision of human life from the beginning to the end. At the centre of the Chapel’s pediment, on a red-tiled background, a big egg is standing, which is the symbol of life: from the white uncovered celi comes out, new-born, the man. On the right wall inside, is standing, slim, Eva, who is lavishing numerous human beings with natural prolificacy. In front of Eva, on the left wall, Adamo advances with steps made safer by the promise of justice being entrusted to him. Behind the altar, on the front wall, Is the representation of life at sunset with the shadow of the sacrificial wood. The spirit of the dead stirs on the valley aspirating to the reunion with the luminous universe. On the entrance wall the pelican, symbol of love and sacrifice, concludes the itinerary of the limpid shades of the enamel.
“So, also in a piace that Is usually deputed to the contemplation of death, Rolando talks us about life through the symbols of a nature purified by love, in its ascensional motion to the Holy Spirit who, in the sky of the Chapel, supervises and wait.

: “L’energia creativa”( Collezione Dr. Peter Moratin)

: “Fonte con pianeti” (laterale)

: Fonte con pianeti dell’universo” (Travertino e onice)

It is the vital fluid of Rolando who, through the rarefied light of his ceramics, is and will always be present in Agliana to invite us to seek the harmony of life in the mystery “.
Here, looking for the harmony of life in the mystery: all the symbolism that Stefanacci proposes in ceramics, sculptures and in the distant past in paintings, tends precisely to this, to seek the balance of our existence through the ancient secrets of hermetic philosophy.

The magical world of symbols

The last four years of Stefanacci’s artistic activity

“Omaggio agli Dei” (travertino e bronzo)

The last four years of Stefanacci’s artistic work are characteristic of pieces of work in ltaly and in other places, going on different trend that, from time immemorial, aren’t those draw of the search of the knowledge way, in that unlimited and magic world of symbol that trace the wisdom way, the possibility to come nearer to absolute truth. Professor Rizzonico Marco, looking closely at Rolando Stefanacci’s hermetic universe, write: “The approach to Rolando’s art is a spiritual experience and the task to describe with words the basic of this feeling isn ‘t an easy task. In fact the reading and expressing level of his production, are superimposed, are blurred, are amalgamate, and, even if are an united picture, they can appear difficult to understand for not experts. As often is for feelings, this is a false representation, since it’s the result of superficial and epidermal approach to the works we meeting during the inquiry of his expressive form. In fact the riding difficulty of Rolando’s artistic message, derives from inability to realize all the many-sided senses, feel a sensation that something drops, continuously.” “Evidently, this isn’t the right perspective: in fact, our cognitive and analytic instruments are absolutely inefficacious towards these works, the y’re as blunt chisel, not sharps tools, that prevent interpreter, user from inspecting deep recesses of this art. So, we must come back and observe works we are in front of us not through eyes or mi, but trough all our body, our not-mind.
Only in this way, with a real desire to fell and only for the persons have a playful attitude to intuition, these works whisper, talk, sing, sometimes shout their sharing to the universe.” “So, in a moment, this hermetic symbology, appears distinct, crystalline, with its infinite meanings.
There’s all each aspect is inside: man and art, the world and the divine, but, first of all, the creation. Walking along the works it seems to be in aesoteric garden and we feel the sensation that each earthen ware form, each soft fold in the stone, is absolutely perfect, not being in a different way. But there’s more than that: walking down this path, observing, near the works, the stones, grass, plants, all seems moulded by the same hand we ask ourselves as it’s possible that those creatures and that matter is result of Rolando’s art. As in the mystic hallucination, that can help us to realize the works we are immersed is only one thing with nature, and it’s in this way hermetical, but as the universe, it’s simple and immediate as if it has our genetic assets. We are grateful to Rolando for his treasure.
“The waking up of symbols – says Stefanacci – is my awakening” to demonstrate how much symbology as influence of his work. On these symbols, his art expands, also and particularly in public makings.

Homege to Sant’Agostino in Prato

“Homege to Sant’Agostino in Prato”
(Church of the same name in Prato)

Prophet in his own country, in 1999 Stefanacci Is asked to make a monument for the small square next to the church of Sant’Agostino in Prato. It is a monumental work of art that, once more, plunges its roots in a deep reflection that Is one of the artist’s ways of acting. In fact he entrusts the execution to meditation and, once more, to the symbol. Here is how the artist explains his execution: “The huge stone supporting the representations is a marvel of that forge of perfection, called nature. Its vaguely pyramidal shape made me immediate/y think to the heaven/y heights and to the elevation towards which each man should aspire..The triple circular base is the result o fan esoteric study. On the whole, I wanted that the sizes of the work were a/ways Pythagorean, multiples of three, being three the initiation number par excellence and obviously allusive to the Holy Trinity The inclination of Stefanacci to the studies of the ancient doctrines re-emerges, with particular emphasis. These studies are his point of force to provide explanations of extraordinary references between the mystic visions and the esoteric doctrines“

A detail of the Sant’Agostino monument in Prato

He carries on: “The Crea tor I represented Is father and mother at the same time; only in the ovular “alveo” of his clothes man finds shelter and recognizes his source. My St. Francis Is ab!e to make brutal man progress showing him the sublime laws of nature. In the end I sculptured four crosses, the Egyptian, Tau, Templar and Christian ones, as symbol of the long religious path of humanity”.
On the occasion of the monument unveiling Guido Guidi Guerrera writes on “La Nazione” that “The sculptures of Rolando speak by themselves and have the power of evoking the highest spiritual signs a!ways belonged to humanity, beyond every reference to a precise religious belle”. Not only the great initiated of the Church inspire Stefanacci, but also the various Ermete Trismegisto and Paraceko or the philosophers Pythagoras and Plato, in substance all the great initiated of history.
The same inspiring themes are present in another big sculpture in travertine that Stefanacci p/aced in front of the door of his house. It Is one metrear?d seventy high and weighs twenty-five quintal. It is called “Homage to the Divinities” and it Is surmonted by a big sun in bronze. The sculpture has on its front side, in the centre, Etruscan, Egyptian, Greek and Templar symbols. In its back part there are the symbols of the Masonry, the christian cross, the symbol of St. Francis and of the Rosa croce.
Meanwhile Rolando Stefanacci knows an Austrian journalist, Karl Friedrick Broderix from Munchen who invites him to model and mould two handles for the oak door of the Chape! of San t’Anna near Niederchletrenbach. In fact a thief, stole one original handle. The Chapel of San t’Anna, a symbol of the Vosgi and a pilgrinage station, had been restored after the destruction of the Second World War.
The chapel is the burla! piace of Hans von Droth, Pala tine Marshal and lord of a cast!e in Benwartoteiss, knight of the French chi valry, who, at the end of the l5th century wanted to rebuild the late Gothic chapel’, at that time dedica ted to the Virgin.The squires and the miners of the iron mines between Nathwerier and Niederschettenbach, renamed the house of God with the name of the miners’ patroness. Next to the knight Is the burlai piace of his wife with a sandstone pia te showing a coat of arms and an epigraph.

“San Francesco”

On the oak door with two wings of the chapel there were two bronze handles having the shape of two doves. The sculptor who reproduced them was unknown, that Is why Broderix thought to Stefanacci, an artist and a friend, and he had the idea to give him the commission for the work in agreement with a cu!turai circle of friends from the piace. Broderlx is a great appreciator of Stefanacci’s art. We can deduce it also from a witness titled: “Alchemy and alabaster” that says “I have known the art of Stefanacci since I was a child. His painting of the beginning, his heads in alabaster and marble, the sculptures in bronze and in terracotta are in the house of my parents from time immemorial. My first meeting with what today I recognize as art, was the well smoothed ferehead of a head made in a rough river stone.

“San Biagio” (Ceramica per
la chiesa di Monteverdi”

How that co!d stone invited to touch it! How, on the contrary, the open mouth and the stony eyes looking at the sky seemed to be extraneous and puzzilng! Even today this sensorial approach Is for me an entrance in the enigma a!ways renewed of Rolando Stefanacci. In fact none of his uncountable works of art Is mannered art pour i’art. In every stone, in every terracotta or bronze piece the artist’s sensibility for ancient and prehistorical cultures models itself together with his studies on the forgotten science of alchimy, his research of truth in the contemporary art. Stefanacci is a man who has avelled a lot in the world with an immense artistic creativity. In his polyhedric art are, together with the strong Tuscan roots, languages coming from Africa and Asia. It Is there that the artist researches the ancien sources feeding the european culture. He reinvents himself every time, searching ceaselessly and resting in himself. In this way from the mutable material he crea tes just disco vered lines and centerings. He places figures and faces in previously met structures and, or a while, finds confidence in a series of sketches about an idea.”

“Chiesa di Sant’Anna” a Niederchetanbech

A detail of the Sant’Agostino monument in Prato

“Nut: Grande Madre del Cielo” (travertino)

The Roman Pool

In the great park surrounding the “Querciolaie” Stefanacci has built several small villas in the same stone in which he creates his sculptures, immersed in nature and adorned with the artist’s ceramic decorations and alchemist symbol. A haven for visitors, revered in an article published in the magazine “Tutto Agriturismo”, a guide to the pleasures and culinary delights of farm holidays. The front cover issued a photograph of the charming interior of one of the villas bearing the unequivocal title of A Memorable Atmosphere” in praise of the evocative ambience. Stefanacci was thus inspired to design and project a poo! in harmony with the surroundings and recapturing the architectural sty!e of ancient Rome. Yet another fine monument crea ted and signed by an artist who takes a special interest in the mysterious and fascinating world of ancient philosophy. A covered pool for pure enjoyment bordered by clasical style arches. At the bottom of the pool, silhouetted by the water, a statue of a female figure that deceivingly appears to move below the ripples.

A homage to the element of water that purifies and regenerates matter. As Stefanacci affirms “The pool renders homage to clear water with the waxing moon, strengthened by the sun and honored by the gods; at a distance, the Father, on a column, observing the pool. ”Yet another esoteric exam pie of the primordial forces of nature that Stefanacci has alo “honored” with a series of small and monumentai fountains collocated by the pool with other recently crea ted sculptures. One of the fountains is almost two metres high mounted on a base of three, entitled “Fontana del mondo” (Fountain of the world) in travertine and onyx. A celebration of the seven planets relating to the seven days of the week and the seven colours of Iris framed by hieroglyphics that signify the so verginty over human beings, animals, vegetables and mineral

“Le amiche”

“Il Padre dell’ Eremita”

“Nut” nel contesto della piscina

mantled by a cascade of segments of a rare type of onyx, revealing the artist’s skill in natura! art. During the same period, Stefanacci a ko created two monumental
ceramic sculptures: one of Saint Francis collocated in a church in Germany and the other ,Saint Biagio, a large winged sculpture, collocated in the church dedicated to the same saint in Monteverdi. Monteverdi displays several of the artist’s works in ceramic and bronze: “L’Amore per la giustizia dei paese” (Love for the justice of the town) placed on a wall at the entrance to the town; a bronze sculpture “Il sacrificio dell’Arma” (The sacrifice of the armed forces), a homage to the Carabinieri and ceramic reliefs in the Town Hall.
The artist creates in his workshop which he fondly calk “the galley”. This is where his ceramic creations are baked in the oven and where he chisels away at new, more aerodynamic sculptures in stone or marble many of which are exhibited near the pool such as “Nut” the great Mother of the sky that protects the “double” and con tributes to create animism. Many other works are abroad: “La donna dei mondo” in tra vertine in Switzerland, the “Figura di saggio” in alabaster is part of a collection in Scotland and severa! ceramic female figures in Germany.

The Brussels exhibition

In August 2002, Rolando Stefanacci was invited to expose his sculptures by “Monte dei Paschi” in Brussel, which 15 trying to conciliate the priority aspect of the finance with that of culture. The two were divided by a deep dichotomy by placing the admittance hall at disposal of the customers who could then chat while waiting for their own turn stimulated by a cultural course, but also with the possibility of attracting a ko those who were interested by the cultural exhibition. The exhibition was visible during the bank opening hours. There Stefanacci placed a series of small and middle works in tra vertine obtaining a great success. They all had titles reminding to
his alchemy research such as “Solar Father 7 the “Creative Drops7 the “Matter Creativity7 the “Alchemy Vessel7 besides some not symbolic subjects such as “Friends”, the “Sea Horse”, “Father and Son”, “The Spring”, “The Summer”. But the work that in some way identified the production and even gave a subtitle to the exhibition was “The Father of Eternity”, a sort of stele with a high symbolic value reuniting in the various layers the particular moments Man passes through in order to join knowledge. Stefanacci placed the reproduction on a higher scale of this small sculpture in the “Querciolaie” park, which became one of the dearest symbol of the artist together with the big bronze “The Alchemy of Elements” that towers above a base in front of the villa and “The Homage to Gods7 all works laden with significance plunging into the “myster philosophy”.his alchemy research such as “Solar Father 7 the “Creative Drops7 the “Matter Creativity7 the “Alchemy Vessel7 besides some not symbolic subjects such as “Friends”, the “Sea Horse”, “Father and Son”, “The Spring”, “The Summer”. But the work that in some way identified the production and even gave a subtitle to the exhibition was “The Father of Eternity”, a sort of stele with a high symbolic value reuniting in the various layers the particular moments Man passes through in order to join knowledge. Stefanacci placed the reproduction on a higher scale of this small sculpture in the “Querciolaie” park, which became one of the dearest symbol of the artist together with the big bronze “The Alchemy of Elements” that towers above a base in front of the villa and “The Homage to Gods7 all works laden with significance plunging into the “myster philosophy”.

Alchemy with nature .

The magical world of symbols

Homege to Sant’Agostino in Prato

The Roman Pool

The Brussels exhibition

Società Agricola Il Gabbiano s.r.l.

Villa Le Querciolaie: