The Church of Santa Maria della Spina hosts the exhibition "Spina e Spade" featuring the works of Giuliano Giuggioli, curated by Filippo Lotti.
The exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Pisa and organized by the Elianto association, the Casa d'arte San Lorenzo, and the Fuori Luogo association, in collaboration with the Domus Mazziniana, will be open to visitors from Friday, April 10, to Sunday, May 3, 2026.
As part of the same exhibition project, a work by the author will also be exhibited in the Domus Mazziniana (via Mazzini, 71), which will be open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.
The exhibition features three large paintings by Giuliano Giuggioli, created using a mixed technique on multiple canvases assembled into a single image. The works construct a visual journey in which the artist's symbolist language reworks episodes and references from history in an evocative and visionary key, intertwining memory and spirituality. The exhibition opens with “The Naval Battle of Lepanto” (composition of 7 canvases), a dynamic and layered representation of the historical clash, and continues with “The Four Maritime Republics” (3 canvases), where the theme of Italian maritime power translates into a symbolic narrative suspended between history and myth. The route closes “Faro di Pisa” (3 canvases), a highly evocative work in which the Leaning Tower of Pisa is reinterpreted as a lighthouse, a new and poetic reading of the city's maritime identity.
Giuliano Giuggioli, born in 1951 in Vetulonia (Grosseto), lives and works in Follonica, where his atelier is located. A self-taught artist, he honed his education through a direct path of experience in workshops, printing houses, and artistic contexts in Italy and abroad. His production ranges from painting to graphics, from sculpture to ceramics, up to the creation of frescoes and scenography. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including in the United States, Switzerland and China, and has been present several times at the Art Expo in New York. His works are part of public and private collections.
The exhibition in the Church of the Thorn will be open free of charge from Wednesday to Friday in the afternoon (4:00-7:00 pm) and on weekends with morning and afternoon openings (Saturday and Sunday 10:30-1:00 pm; 4:00-7:00 pm). On May 1° the church will remain open with the same hours as the weekend.
