Crossing Stella: At Forte Stella, dance, sculpture, music, and landscape have come together to create an immersive experience designed to establish a dialogue between the history of the place and contemporary forms of expression.
To traverse a space means going beyond its physical dimensions, allowing oneself to be guided by the impressions, memories, and emotions it holds. It is from this idea that “Crossing Stella” was born, the artistic event presented on September 19 against the backdrop of Forte Stella in Porto Ercole.
The event, promoted by Argentario&Friends and CANOVA22, with the support of the Municipality of Monte Argentario, was conceived specifically for this location: an ancient Spanish fortress overlooking the sea, capable of recounting centuries of history through its stone walls, ramparts, and terraces suspended above the Argentario landscape.
Conceived by CANOVA22’s artistic director, Fiorenza d’Alessandro, the project brought together archaeology, visual arts, choreography, and music in an original creation entrusted to international choreographers Gustavo Oliveira and Michele Pogliani.
Not merely a dance performance, then, but an immersive and itinerant experience. The dancers moved through the spaces of the fort, guiding the audience along a path in whichthe movement of their bodies interacted with the fortress’s architecture, the solidity of the stone, and the maritime horizon.
The dialogue between art and landscape was made even more intense by the sculptures of Mauro Staccioli, woven into a visual and performative narrative punctuated by the deep, melancholic sounds of Fado. Different artistic languages thus came together without overlapping, offering a contemporary interpretation of the place and its memory.
The title itself, Crossing Stella, evokes the idea of crossing: not only the physical traversal of the fortress’s spaces, but also a symbolic passage between eras, artistic disciplines, and perceptions. The audience was not left as passive spectators but was invited to follow the path, observing Forte Stella from unusual perspectives and immersing themselves in the interplay between movement, sound, material, and space.
“Crossing Stella is not meant to be merely a dance performance, but a perceptual experience,” emphasized Marcello Mentini, president of Argentario&Friends.
“The audience is invited to traverse the fort, following a continuous dialogue between contemporary art and historical heritage, in which artistic movement merges with the soul of the place and the beauty of the landscape.”
The initiative also offered a reflection on the value of culture as a tool for promoting the region. Bringing contemporary artistic exploration into a historic site means, in fact, enhancing its identity without limiting it to mere preservation, transforming it into a living entity capable of generating new experiences.
This concept was also reiterated by the Councilor for Tourism, Culture, Sports, and Commerce of the Municipality of Monte Argentario, Chiara Orsini: “Crossing Stella perfectly embodies the way we want to showcase and promote the Argentario: not only through the extraordinary beauty of its landscape, but by creating opportunities that connect culture, contemporary art, history, and the identity of these places.”
The councilor also highlighted the significance of Forte Stella, describing it as one of the region’s most evocative heritage sites, and thanked Argentario&Friends and CANOVA22 for once again choosing the Argentario as the setting for a high-quality cultural project.
Guests were welcomed with an aperitif hosted by theHotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, the event’s exclusive sponsor, which set the tone for the evening’s opening in the fortress’s evocative atmosphere.
With Crossing Stella, the Argentario demonstrated once again how its natural and architectural beauty can become not just scenes to be admired, but places to be experienced and reinterpreted. It was an evening in which time seemed to slow down, as the movement of dance traversed history and the sea became part of a single, one-of-a-kind artistic creation.
The project’s key players
Argentario&Friends is a nonprofit association that brings together private individuals and companies active in the area. Its goal is to enhance the quality and prestige of the Argentario by promoting cultural, athletic, social, and entertainment initiatives.
CANOVA22 is an international platform dedicated to contemporary cultural programming. It develops projects in which visual arts, performance, video dance, new media, and multidisciplinary research converge in a curatorial vision open to dialogue between different languages, disciplines, and cultures.
