Teodelapio, Alexander Calder’s monumental black steel sculpture, located opposite Spoleto railway station and spanning the roadway.
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Teodelapio

Where to find it

Teodelapio is located just outside Spoleto’s historic centre, opposite the railway station.

 

Why visit it

The first permanent monumental sculpture by American artist Alexander Calder (“I’m making a Stabile that can stand on the ground and form an arch over the road”), it was created in 1962 for the exhibition Sculture nella città (Sculptures in the City), as part of the fifth Festival dei Due Mondi. Conceived by Gianni Carandente, art critic and director of the Festival’s visual arts section, the exhibition became a landmark event in the history of contemporary art.

American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898–1976) is renowned for his extraordinary colourful, articulated aerial constructions, known as mobiles. Suspended from extremely thin wires, they move gracefully thanks to a carefully calculated system of balance. Some of Calder’s mobiles are housed in the museum at Palazzo Collicola.

Low-angle detail of Alexander Calder’s Teodelapio in Spoleto, with its large black steel structures framing the cloudy sky.

Teodelapio by Alexander Calder seen from below

Front view of Alexander Calder’s Teodelapio, a monumental black steel sculpture located in front of Spoleto railway station.

Teodelapio by Alexander Calder in front of Spoleto railway station

Aerial view of Alexander Calder’s Teodelapio in the roundabout in front of Spoleto railway station, with the avenue and historic centre in the background.

Teodelapio in the urban landscape of Spoleto

Description

The painted steel sculpture stands 18 metres high.

Made from differently shaped metal plates bolted together, it has a zoomorphic appearance and also resembles a crown. Calder had not yet decided on a name for the sculpture when, while staying in Spoleto in the spring of 1962, he saw, in his hotel lobby, a print depicting the Lombard Duke Theodelapius (first half of the 7th century) wearing a pointed crown, and decided to name the work after him.

The model, together with several letters and preparatory drawings, is housed in the Carandente Gallery of Modern Art at Palazzo Collicola.

 

Interesting fact

The model was enlarged 27 times at the Italsider steelworks in Savona, and the resulting steel plates were assembled and welded directly in the square in Spoleto.

 

Practical information

The square in front of the train station is located just outside Spoleto’s historic centre. Coming from Via Flaminia, it lies at the end of the long, straight Viale Trento e Trieste.

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