“The Ca' Corniani agricultural estate is the first case of private reclamation: in 1851 Generali bought this vast marshy area near the Municipality of Caorle, in the Veneto region. Even then we had a social role in the area, which we still want to have". With these words the managing director of Generali Italia, Marco Sesana, took part in the Triennale di Milano at the announcement of the winner of the Three Thresholds competition, organized to establish a new relationship between the culture of agricultural production, enhancing it through three works of art in each of the entrance thresholds of the by now historic agricultural estate of Ca' Corniani.
The estate is located close to the Municipality of Caorle, in the province of Venice, in an area that in the 25s was malarial swamp: now this is one of the 8000 companies managed by Genagricola between Italy and Romania, for a total of over 5000 hectares grown on the national territory and over XNUMX in Romania, 13.000 cultivated hectares (equal to two thirds of the area of a city like Milan), almost 50 million euros in turnover and over 360 employees. A third of this turnover comes from wine products, with over 4 million bottles produced every year, but there are also wheat crops, cattle breeding "and recently also the production of renewable energies - explained the president of Genagricola Giancarlo Fancel - through 2 plants for the production of electricity from biogas, with which we produce the energy that could feed 6000 families”.
But in the new life of the Ca' Corniani estate there is also a strong role of art, called to enhance the link between culture, the territory and agricultural production. The Tre Soglie project wanted to evoke art as a device to mark and interpret the three entrances of Ca'? Corniani, confirming precisely in these strategic points the combination of art and agriculture, with the innovative approach that historically distinguishes this place. Five internationally renowned artists have been invited to design site-specific interventions through a creative process capable of narrating the stratified and complex territory of Ca' Corniani, starting from its resources – nature and agriculture – and its inhabitants.
The jury, which also included the CEO of the Generali Group Philippe Donnet, ruled unanimously the victory of Alberto Garutti, born in 48 and originally from Lecco. A large golden roof for the now abandoned farmhouse, a neon sign that lights up with every lightning strike in Italy, portrait sculptures of the dogs and horses that live on the farm: these will be the three works – created by Garutti – which will welcome all those who, from June 2018, in conjunction with the opening of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, will enter Ca' Corniani by crossing the Three Thresholds of the historic Genagricola estate.
More information on the competition, on the concept of the works and on the author, on the Genagricola site.
