Monumental scale
You only grasp the true size of the work in person, when helmets, visitors and machinery reveal the scale of the wall.
The mural in the quarry
Michelangelo enters the heart of the marble.
A monumental wall in Galleria Ravaccione becomes stage, story and surprise: Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam reimagined by Ozmo for MarmoTour.
This is more than a photograph to take along the route: it is the moment when the quarry changes register. Excavated rock meets colour, urban art enters into dialogue with Michelangelo and the visit opens onto an almost theatrical landscape.
160 m²
of painted wall
Ozmo
international artist
Carrara
art inside the quarry
Art in the heart of the mountain
The quarry becomes a monumental stage.
In the quarry’s cool darkness, the mural does not feel like decoration but like a change of scale: a familiar image becomes immense, mineral and unexpected.
Living material
The marble is not a neutral background: its veins, cuts and quarry surfaces become part of the visual narrative.
A surprise along the route
The mural appears at the heart of the visit and shifts the experience from the technique of extraction to the wonder of art.
The Creation in marble
An iconic image, brought back to life inside the quarry.
Blue sky, suspended bodies and white rock transform Galleria Ravaccione into a living scene. Michelangelo is not a distant quotation, but a language that speaks again through the material.
December 2017
The making of the work, deep inside Monte Torrione.
In December 2017, MarmoTour brought international street art into Galleria Ravaccione, where Carrara’s precious white marble is extracted. Known throughout the world, this material has engaged human skill since the earliest days of Western civilisation. The comparison with the great artists of the past is inevitable, especially Michelangelo, who drew — or rather “freed” — the material for his masterpieces from these valleys and mountains.
At Fantiscritti in the Apuan Alps, Galleria Ravaccione lies at the end of a long tunnel cut through the rock. It is a striking lunar landscape, a working quarry and an important visitor destination. Within this natural cathedral, majestic in scale, Ozmo’s work occupies a 160 m² wall.
Ozmo was asked to reinterpret the Creation of Adam, painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Pope Julius II. Inside the quarry, the parallel between divine and human creation, nature and art, is sealed by this scene from Genesis: this is where Ozmo and Michelangelo enter into dialogue.
Francesca Dell’Amico conceived the mural as a tribute to Carrara and its people. It could be viewed free of charge on the opening day and during the special openings of 22, 23 and 30 December 2017.
2017
the project began
160 m²
painted surface
Fantiscritti
Galleria Ravaccione
The great wall
160 square metres that transform the atmosphere of the gallery.
The Creation of Adam is reinterpreted outside a museum setting: soaring walls, artificial light, dust, depth and the silence of the mountain. The result does not appear hung on the wall, but carved into the place itself.
Creation
Michelangelo’s inspiration
Gallery
Ravaccione
Marble
as natural architecture
The film
Take your time watching it — before it appears in front of you.
The film captures what a single photograph cannot: the mural does not exist in isolation, but within an immense volume of rock, light and space.
The artist
Ozmo: street art, classical myth and a working quarry.
Ozmo brings a contemporary language into a place where every surface already has a history. The reference to Michelangelo becomes a direct bridge between Carrara, marble and today’s visual culture.
Ozmo, the artist name of Gionata Gesi, was born in Pontedera in 1975 and trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He moved to Milan in 2001, became a leading figure in the most innovative currents of his generation and helped lay the foundations of Italian street art.
His public works can be found in significant locations on every continent, and his work has been shown in major museums including Museo del Novecento in Milan and MACRO in Rome. His figurative practice spans graffiti, installations and painting, drawing on tradition with an almost Renaissance sensibility and remixing it in a contemporary key.
Inside Galleria Ravaccione this vision finds a powerful natural stage: the material of marble, Michelangelo’s legacy and the artist’s urban energy become one visual experience.
Gionata Gesi
the artist’s name
1975
born in Pontedera
Street art
contemporary language
During the tour
You do not observe it from a distance: you walk into its space.
The mural is one of the most recognisable stops on the MarmoTour route. You enter the gallery and then the wall opens before you: the marble remains a working quarry, yet for a few minutes it also becomes a stage.
It reveals the scale
The proportions of the quarry become immediate when the artwork is seen beside helmets, machinery and visitors.
It connects history and the present
Michelangelo and Ozmo are not simply named: they become part of one visual narrative.
It photographs beautifully
Gallery light, painted blue sky and white marble create a powerful visual impact.
