Local ambassador stories: Carlo Franzoso-Agathos, Montepulciano

From the land of Primitivo di Manduria to the land of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, from Salento to the Valdichiana Senese: that of Carlo Franzoso- Agathos, mathematics teacher and artist, is a love for this territory that erupted in the 1980s.

“My eagerness to cross the borders of Salento took me around Italy from a young age; I graduated in Banking Sciences in Siena and discovered a breathtaking territory here. I wanted to get to know the world and stop in areas that could pamper me for the rest of my years, and I found in Montepulciano the ideal place, rich in art and culture. A jewel in the Valdichiana Senese abutting the Val d'Orcia that keeps me here and does not let me run away. Here I am perfectly integrated into society and when I walk the streets I am simply Carlo, not Agathos the artist, but just Carlo, and I like that very much. Some curators have had the opportunity to visit the city of Poliziano, finding affinities between her and my artistic-mathematical activity”.

Art and mathematics for Agathos are in fact two themes that are inevitably intertwined no matter how very different they may seem, so much so that he was the one who devised the current of transgeometric spatialism: “The history of art has always been steeped in mathematics, otherwise we could not understand the grandeur of the Doriforo of Polyclitus and its proportion that gives the sense of perfection and that leaves one astonished. I am a mathematician who provided a new mathematics, a mathematics on a qualitative basis where there is an extra dimension, the fifth, transgeometry, which I brought back into art. Everything that was related to Euclidean geometry, like the concept of Euclidean distance, becomes a concept of perceived distance, there is no longer an objective fact but subjective, and it is this subjectivity that I put on canvas. I also came up with a movement, Transgeometric Spatialism, in which space is not a physical space within which one moves, it is a living being that moves along with man”.

Montepulciano, the place that bewitched Agathos, is very present in his works, especially the Renaissance aspect that was initially absent is now increasingly central. Paintings that range from the purest abstract to the semi-abstract, which have been exhibited in the Louvre, in London, at the New York Expo, in important museums around the world but also in the Montepulciano Fortress: “It was an exhibition that was quite successful and that I deeply wanted because I think that wherever you go, you need to sow. My works here were enhanced by the context, which is small but absolutely not modest. The exhibition was then repeated in a modern winery in Montepulciano, and the art that was put together with the flavors of the area, was an apex moment that made me happy and proud. By the way, I also painted the cloth of the Bravìo delle Botti, an incredible satisfaction that sanctioned even more my being an adopted Poliziano.”

Carlo Franzoso today is a world-renowned artist who continues to pursue his business of teaching mathematics, which he considers to be lifeblood: “The relationship with kids in the adolescent stage gives me daily insights. For me it is oxygen to have relationships with young people who are fascinated by what I do! Working with them gives me support for new ideas and experimentation for artistic activity and mathematical developments. Teaching and painting are two occupations that I put on the same level, because one feeds the other, there is no preponderance, they go hand in hand.”

The bond between Agathos and this land is profound, Montepulciano is like a safe harbor to return to after breathing other environments and another air: “When I am invited to the most important contexts, I really miss the environment of Poliziano and Siena, that territory that spiritually has always pampered me since the 1980s and which I believe I can no longer do without. I move a lot between Siena, Florence, Venice, Milan, Switzerland, but the point of return is always Montepulciano: when I stay here I don't miss anything. I don't feel like re-immersing myself in more hectic contexts, Montepulciano is the perfect place. I have pursued many projects outside the regional and national borders, however, to be myself I have to come back to Tuscany, it is a place that puts me back in the world. I know many people who would gladly leave here, but I can't even think about leaving.”

The place of the local ambassador's heart

From a spiritual point of view, definitely St. Blaise... for me Anthony of St. Gallen has done an immense masterpiece. And not only the Church, but also the Rectory which is spectacular. I often go there alone to think. I like to walk a lot, though, and one area I particularly like is around Via di San Bartolomeo, in the open country. There I am myself because I can be alone without people around, putting my thoughts in order.

Carlo Franzoso, math teacher and artist