The project by Francesco Pedrini (Bergamo, 1973) for the community of Roncobello involves the creation of a new observation point for the night sky at Passo del Vendulo.
The choice of location was determined by a combination of historical and serendipitous factors: the Upper Brembana Valley is an area of great archeo-astronomical interest, and Passo del Vendulo is a crossroads of trails, including the one leading to the Porta delle Cornacchie. Here, in an area where it was necessary to remove red spruces that had been attacked by the bark beetle—an insect that particularly targets this type of tree by feeding on its inner bark layers—a suitable space has been created to host a new “poetic sky observatory,” as the artist defines it.
Pedrini’s work stems from a reflection on the transformation of the forest ecosystem, caused by climate change and the spread of red spruce monocultures that have facilitated the proliferation of the bark beetle, now destroying vast forest areas.
Inspired by the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, an Indian astronomical site, Magnitudo will have simple yet evocative functions and will consist of three installations: Posa is a flat area, leveled with wooden planks, that invites contemplation of the night sky and, during the day, allows the tracing of a solar analemma—a geometric figure resembling the infinity symbol that reflects the Earth’s movement around the sun over the course of a year.
The other two works are made of larch wood, typical of the area and resistant to weather: Polaris is a log tilted to about 42 degrees—the latitude of Passo del Vendulo—which directs the observer toward the Polar Star, long a guiding light for explorers and scientists; in Aerofono, a tree is transformed into a hollow structure that captures the sounds of the sky, offering an immersive listening experience.
