Earlier this year, Belmond teamed up with Galleria Continua for a new art project: MITICO. Four artists were invited to create site-specific installations in the grounds of four Belmond locations across Italy, beginning with the Casanova gardens of the Cipriani in Venice to coincide with the opening of the Biennale in April. Here, art consultant Hervé Mikaeloff chose Indian artist Subodh Gupta who created Cooking the World, a house made from pots and pans with a working kitchen at its centre. The structure was the site of a culinary performance in which Gupta and his team prepared a menu of dishes created by the artist in an intimate and multisensory experience.

The next stop on the MITICO tour was Villa San Michele, a 15th-century former monastery and briefly the headquarters of Napoleon Bonaparte during his campaign in northern Italy. For the project, Leandro Erlich created two works collectively titled Viewing the World. The villa is situated in the hills overlooking Florence where Leonardo da Vinci first tested his flying machines. Window & Ladder (left) frames a view of the city, at its centre the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, or Duomo, completed in 1436. The second Erlich work, The Cloud (UK), floats effortlessly in a vitrine beneath a fresco by Nicodemo Ferrucci that depicts the Last Supper.

Guests of Villa San Michele were offered an “Art of Making” tour. Here, Cecilia Falciai demonstrates the art of scagliola and mosaic.

Another highlight on the tour was Paolo Carandini, a maker of exquisite parchment-covered boxes with naturally dyed leather since 1991. Each box is unique, featuring designs from his personal archives, including classic literature and illustrations by his grandfather. The boxes are filled by Carandini with a combination of printed material and objects that express his wry sense of humour.

Galleria Continua (above) was founded in 1990 in the small town of San Gimignano. Intentionally located away from the urban-centric art world, the headquarters are housed in a beautiful former cinema. Most of the original features have been maintained and the main auditorium has held site-specific installations by artists including Anish Kapoor and Anthony Gormley. For MITICO, the Galleria Continua team worked closely with Belmond to select the artists.

At Castello di Casole, in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, they chose Michelangelo Pistoletto who contributed four Etruscan bronze sculptures (left) for a work titled Accarezzare gli alberi (l’Etrusco) meaning “caress the trees”. The figures are placed around the estate’s expansive 4,200 acre grounds as if caressing the ancient trees. 

Significant Etruscan artefacts have been discovered on the grounds of Castello di Casole. Many are on display at the Civic Archaeological Museum of Casole d’Elsa, including this rare female head carved in Apuan marble.

To book a visit, go to belmond.com or email reservations.vsm@belmond.com.