I sit on a crimson sofa while Sofy is preparing some coffee before we start our interview. Sophie Ricard, in art “Sofy” is a sculptor and a painter now living in Pietrasanta and managing a Bed and breakfast activity, although she prefers referring to it as a GuestHouse,“Maison d’hôtes”, a charming 17th-century building, inviting to beauty and contemplation.

From the large window, I can see roofs and terraces finely decorated with stuccos and marbles and I feel like I am in Paris…when Sofy starts her story. "I sat on a comfy chair sipping a ‘spritz’ and contemplating some terrific art pieces of contemporary artists…the bells of the Duomo toll and the air filled with inebriating scents of time, olive trees and freshly cut grass… I found myself in Pietrasanta, a small medieval town set on hills of northern Tuscany Riviera of Versilia, enjoying the typical Italian relax in piazzetta… After living in Paris and travelling the world, I would not expect myself to feel so at ease in such a small place."

Sofy Ricard lays the tray on a set of catalogues and art portfolios, where I immediately see her name showing up on top of a black cover, where a bronze human statue emerges as if out of darkness. She is an elegant and fascinating woman with intense look and thoughtful speech. "My family nourished quite a number of artists, my mom was a painter, but I had never been thought any technique or felt the need to express myself artistically… till I found myself in Pietrasanta in late 1997 and later on decided to open my studio and settle down here. This place is full of creative energy, although so cosy."

Pietrasanta has a wonderful position at the back of the Apuan Alps, rich of white carbonate marble, that Michelangelo carved during the late Renaissance, and stretching along the Francigena way, which in Middle ages granted the small town the passage of many noble men and kings travelling to Lucca and Rome, stopping in its majestic Duomo, still dominating the main square today.

Sofy carries on talking, while I almost project her story in my brain as in a movie: "In the Mid nineties Pietrasanta became fashionable to many international art galleries and artists who found here the perfect humus (read, land) to exhibit and create their art pieces. Not only they could find super skilled masters and craftsmen in marble, bronze, mosaics, but they could also profit from the presence of many other international artists. That’s what actually happened to me during one of my several trips to Pietrasanta in early 2000, when I met a friend who was executing a Botero’s work enlargement who invited me to join her studio as she remembered about my ability to work with clay… and from one work into another I opened my own workshop."

As she points to the veranda, we both stand up and Sofy starts showing me her house and B&B facilities. Among these, the kitchen is a wonderful example of Hispanic-Tuscan furnishing with a huge kitchenette and colorful tiles. "Breakfast are usually served here or in the courtyard, but one can behave as if at home, preparing some special food or simply enjoying the strictly bio home made bread, jams and focaccia that I grab from my trustful local grocery shops."

We get the direction to the rooftop through the sturdy limestone stairway, still listening to Sofy’s amazing life and experiences, working in the 80’s as sociologist in refugees camps at the borders of Cambodia and Laos and working as a fresco painter through Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan, living in Tibetan monasteries… "It was as if art called out for me and urged me to forge into clay those heavy burdens life had laid on my soul. Michelangelo said that the artist is simply facilitating the ‘shape’ to get out the rough surface of stone and I believe that art can get yourself free of fear and evil materializing it in a shape, which is no more something to be afraid of… but yet a curative process."

Pietrasanta has preserved its creative power and skills in time and it is yet a place where artists and people fond of art can feel at ease. Nowadays, Pietrasanta holds more than 40 galleries in its small historical center and it is considered a sophisticated place to dine, meet people or simply shopping. Many art shops are open to visitors and tours may be arranged to assist to bronze casting or visit sculpting ateliers.

The view from Sofy’s flowered terrace bounces me back again the image of Paris’ rooftops, which, as Sofy points out are grey and not red as in Italy. The panoramic view stretches from the Apuan Alps amphitheater, to the Rocca di Sala, a spectacular Longobardic fortress that dominates Pietrasanta and the lower plain, to the Museo dei Bozzetti (Maquette’s Museum), whose medieval patios are filled up with statues, stuccos and moulds belonging to the most famous artists who lived and worked here from Henry Moore, Fernando Botero, Pietro Cascella, César, Pietro Consagra, Niki De Saint Phalle, Novello Finotti, Jean Michel Folon, Gonzalo Fonseca, Igor Mitoraj, Costantino Nivola, Isamu Noguchi, Kan Yasuda, Gio’ Pomodoro, Giuliano Vangi etc etc.

"Pietrasanta is a milestone for many artists from all over the world now as in the past and to me it signs an important period of my life which will hopefully lead to new projects...". Meeting Sofy was a journey in art, in lifestyle and especially in the real essence of Pietrasanta, yet recalled as ‘Little Athens’, the greatest example of cultural expression and artistic skills unbelievably collected in a small fascinating town in Northern Tuscany.

For more information:
GuestHouse Le Jardin de Sofy
www.lejardindesofy.com
Sofy, sculptor
www.sofy-art.com
Museo dei Bozzetti
www.museodeibozzetti.it/it/home