Borgo Museo | Sculture 1976 – 2004
Biography
Romano Battaglioli was born in Lugano Val d’Arda on February 27, 1937, from a family originally from the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. At a very young age he moved to Prato where he will live for the rest of his life precisely because over the years he has tightened a very strong bond with the city and above all with its historic center. During his adolescence he devoted himself to some humble little work, helping out the historic family business in the newsstand in Piazza Mercatale. Later she devoted herself to his great passion, namely that of playing the drums. Gifted with great talent, he works around Italy playing in the main dance orchestras set up in the 60’s. In these years Romano begins a new chapter of his life dedicated to painting and sculpture, after retiring from his career as a musician in 1967 after a serious leg injury. Also in this second life Romano shows himself at very high levels, for this reason he is praised and esteemed by critics and the public for many years. In 1986 Romano underwent two major surgeries, so he decided to give Pope John Paul II a bas-relief in white onyx representing the Calvary of Christ carrying the cross. This action manifests a constant and ever-present devotion to God and the Christian religion, which will accompany him until the end of his life. As a result of health problems, Romano is no longer able to carve hard stone and to wander around Italy as he did before and for this reason he decides to resume his first teenage job, or to carry on the newsstand. He loves to surround himself with people, he talks quietly even with strangers and tells the public about his artistic experience. He is convinced that “art is art if it manages to involve even the simplest people”. He dies on a Thursday evening in July 2011 next to his wife Nadia.
Philosophy
From the artistic point of view Romano Battaglioli is a painter capable of transmitting continuous and profound emotions. He manages to transform infinitesimal ink dots into volumes of powerful color or the brushes of oil in soft shades like watercolour. He always seeks perfection in everything he achieves and his main ambition is to achieve the triumph of light. We remember some monumental works of him and many bas-reliefs all carved in pietra serena. A very significant gift of him is that of finding a suspended atmosphere of expectation and meditation. He is capable of delivering his artistic message not only to trained and expert critics, but also to ordinary people; in fact he is defined as a “genius” by all those who respect him.
Artwork in Castagno
In Castagno di Piteccio Romano he created a work commissioned by Tommaso Paloscia, which he entitled “meet again”. His main theme is the state of loneliness in which he often closes himself up and at the same time a final phase which consists in “finding himself”, emblematically represented by an embrace in which the sadness of being remains. This work is made of pietra serena, which he used a lot as we have already mentioned above. Stylistically, the work is very humble, we can see that the bodies are real rounded figures and we can perceive the volume from the reflection of the moon that reflects a chiaroscuro on the surface of the bodies.