BALLAD OF PLACE

THE BALLAD OF A PLACE

Photography, Music, and Memory at Villa Magnani

Curatorial Statement by Victoria Chapman

Written on the occasion of

Once Upon a Time: An Incarnation of Place
Francesco Tori and Linda Zambolin

and

A Musical Performance by Anthony Cardella

Villa Magnani, Campiglia Cervo
July 25, 2026 at 4 pm

On a summer afternoon, July 25, 2026, the historic gardens of Villa Magnani will become the setting for a rare encounter between landscape, photography, music, and storytelling. Set within one of Valle Cervo’s most remarkable cultural landmarks, visitors will experience Once Upon a Time: An Incarnation of Place, the photographic series by Francesco Tori and Linda Zambolin, alongside a special concert by pianist and composer Anthony Cardella.

This presentation holds particular significance as the photographs return to the very landscape in which they were conceived. Earlier this year, Once Upon a Time was exhibited at El Nido by VC Projects in Los Angeles, introducing audiences to the quiet beauty and contemplative spirit of Valle Cervo. Now the work returns home, allowing visitors to encounter the images within the forests, mountains, and natural environment that inspired them.

Created over years of observation and engagement with the valley, Tori and Zambolin’s hand-colored and waxed photographs move beyond documentation. Through layers of pigment and wax, the images become transformed objects—part image, part artifact, part recollection—occupying a space between observation and remembrance. Trees, leaves, pathways, meadows, and fragments of the landscape emerge as visual meditations on time itself. Through their sensitive approach, the artists reveal Valle Cervo not merely as a geographical location but as a living repository of stories, experience, and human connection.

The title Once Upon a Time evokes the language of folklore, storytelling, and remembrance. It reminds us that every landscape carries within it traces of those who came before us. The abandoned shelters, pathways, and rural spaces that inspired the series speak not only of history but of an enduring relationship between people and the land. Nature becomes both witness and keeper of these stories, carrying their presence forward through seasons of growth, decay, and renewal.

For the second time, Anthony Cardella joins the project through a musical program presented in dialogue with the exhibition. His performance extends the themes explored within the photographs, creating a bridge between visual and musical forms of storytelling. At the heart of the concert is the tradition of the ballade, a form historically rooted in narrative, folklore, and the transformation of lived experience into art. From Frédéric Chopin’s celebrated Ballades to contemporary interpretations of the genre, Cardella’s program invites listeners into a world where lyricism, imagination, reflection, and drama intertwine.

Particularly meaningful is the connection between the ballade and the spirit of Once Upon a Time. Inspired in part by the writings of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, Chopin’s Ballades transformed stories, legends, and fragments of everyday life into deeply expressive musical works. Like the photographs, they inhabit a space where history and imagination meet, reminding us that art serves as a vessel through which stories continue to endure across generations.

Adding a further dimension to the afternoon, Villa Magnani has generously proposed that Cardella perform a selection of early Italian works on one of the villa’s historic pianos. These compositions create a unique dialogue between music, architecture, and place. The sounds of earlier centuries will once again resonate through the villa and gardens, connecting the present moment with the cultural history embedded within the estate itself. Through this gesture, the villa becomes more than a setting; it becomes an active participant in the experience, allowing history to be encountered not as something distant, but as something living.

Villa Magnani provides an extraordinary setting for such an encounter. Built during the second half of the nineteenth century and surrounded by the celebrated gardens designed by Marcellino and Giuseppe Roda, gardeners to the House of Savoy, the estate remains one of the treasures of the Biella region. The villa and its grounds stand as a testament to generations of stewardship, vision, and respect for the relationship between architecture and the natural world.

Together, the photographs of Francesco Tori and Linda Zambolin, the music of Anthony Cardella, and the historic setting of Villa Magnani create more than an exhibition or a concert. They form a shared experience through which landscape, art, music, and history become intertwined. On this afternoon, the valley itself becomes an active participant—a witness to past and present, tradition and renewal.

At a moment when much of contemporary life pulls us away from sustained attention, gatherings such as these invite us to pause, to listen, and to observe more closely. Through image, sound, architecture, and nature, new threads are woven into the ongoing story of Valle Cervo. On this summer afternoon, photography, music, architecture, and landscape converge to create a new chapter in that story. In doing so, they remind us that beauty is not merely something we observe, but something we participate in—through attention, stewardship, and our willingness to listen to the stories a place continues to tell.

© Victoria Chapman, 2026

Curatorial Statement written for Once Upon a Time: An Incarnation of Place by Francesco Tori and Linda Zambolin and the musical performance of Anthony Cardella at Villa Magnani, Campiglia Cervo.

ANTHONY CARDELLA – BALLAD PROGRAM

JULY 25, 2026, VILLA MAGNANI

·       Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

·       Ballade No. 1 in G minor, op. 23

·       Judd Greenstein (1979)

·       First Ballade

·       Chopin

·       Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 

·       Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

·       Ballade Op. 46

·       Chopin

·       Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47

·       Sergei Bortkiewiwicz (1877-1952)

·       Ballade Op. 42

··       Chopin

·       Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 

·       Roy Agnew (1891-1944)

·       Sonata Ballade (1938)

* in addition, courtesy of villa magnani: early italian music performed on one of the villa’s historical pianos