When wine enters the language of art, it becomes narration. This is what happens with “The Soul of Amarone”, the project created by Fabrizio Plessi for Masi and presented in the catalogue of the same name published by Marsilio Arte, unveiled in Venice as part of a broader narrative that weaves together territory, culture and contemporaneity. It is not simply a documentation of an installation, but an extension over time of an immersive experience that originates in Valpolicella and moves between physical space, image and memory. The project takes shape inside Monteleone21, Masi’s new venue conceived as a reference point for contemporary wine tourism. A space that does not merely host wine, but interprets its cultural value, opening a dialogue with art and architecture. The catalogue accompanies this vision, gathering images of the installation, project materials and photographs that connect the work to the Valpolicella territory, restoring the continuity between landscape, production and imagination.
Wine as artistic matter: The Soul of Amarone and Fabrizio Plessi’s vision
For the first time in his career, Fabrizio Plessi introduces wine into his artistic language, alongside the primary elements that have always defined his research, such as water, fire and light.
The result is an installation in which wine becomes a symbolic and visual force, capable of transforming into flow, movement and scenic presence. At the centre of the work, large Venetian boats emerge as recurring narrative elements, metaphors of journey and existential condition.
The artist describes this relationship with a direct image:
“The boat is a metaphor for our life, and I am a solitary navigator.”
A statement that clarifies how wine, in this context, is not just a theme but a dimension of passage, an element that accompanies the human journey.
Technology and nature: a productive tension
One of the central aspects of the work is the relationship between natural elements and contemporary tools. Wine flows in cascades generated through artificial intelligence, crossing the space and reflecting in the screens placed inside the boats, creating continuity between the real and the digital.
Opposed to this dimension are the bamboo arele with grapes laid out to dry, a direct reference to the traditional technique at the heart of Amarone.
From this balance emerges the meaning of the project: wine takes shape precisely in the tension between natural process and technological interpretation, becoming both image and origin.
Amarone as memory and identity
At the heart of Plessi’s work is a reflection on the time of wine. Not only on its production cycle, but on its ability to contain memory, depth and transformation.
As the artist himself states:
“Amarone possesses memory, depth and time.”
This is the dimension the installation seeks to translate into visual language, turning wine into a perceptive experience made of movement, sound and light.
The dialogue between art and territory according to Masi
The project fits into a broader vision shared by Masi, which considers wine as a cultural expression as well as a product.
Sandro Boscaini, president of Masi Agricola, clearly defines this approach:
“Monteleone21 was created as a place of encounter between tradition and contemporaneity. With Fabrizio, with whom I share a deep friendship, we wanted to tell the story of Amarone and its most intimate Soul through an artistic language that is universal by nature, capable of interpreting wine not only as a product but as a cultural and territorial expression.”
Wine thus becomes not only an object of production, but a storytelling tool.
The Soul of Amarone: the catalogue as an extension of the work
The volume published by Marsilio Arte serves a precise function: not merely documenting but extending the experience of the installation over time.
As publisher Luca De Michelis notes:
“The volume immortalises the work in the context in which it is born and lives, helping to make its memory eternal.”
The book thus becomes an integral part of the project, a device that preserves and conveys the relationship between art, wine and space.
From installation to bottle: Amarone as artwork
The narrative also extends to the most concrete element: a limited edition of Amarone Costasera Contemporary Art 2006, in which Plessi’s work is translated into the bottle’s design.
The artist describes this transposition with an evocative yet precise image:
“The Soul of Amarone crosses space and meets the precious nectar in its strength and momentum, enveloping it: the work and the art hover around and within the wine.”
Art and wine thus share the same space, becoming a single experience.
