When I walk down the street that leads to the Fonderia Nolana, I get the feeling that I’ve come to the end of the known world. For those who know the area, the feeling of being at a crossing might be familiar: the road travelled by lorries between logistics centre and farmland seems to end at the foot of the Apennines. And, in spite of finding ourselves in a landscape quite different from what we’d expect at the foot of the volcano, we can see Vesuvius in the distance. The area where Giordano Bruno was born is one of Campania’s main agricultural, industrial and manufacturing centres: if not here, then where could a place like the Fonderia Nolana have possibly sprung up?

A business that intertwines its activity proper with a passion for contemporary art, collaborating on the creation of works of art with national and international galleries, artists and museums. What has always struck me about this place is not so much the advanced technology that they use, but the feeling that art is everywhere, making the whole complex into a kind of massive atelier.

It is easy to find artists in its spaces, as if they were in residence, and exchange a few words with them as they oversee the creation of their works, in a role quite different from the usual one. A business, a family, that has become a bona fide cultural experience, a stellar example of what can be given to a region through art.