The hills are alive with the sound of music. In Maremma, 75-year-old Paul Fuchs, a former blacksmith, tends to his Giardino dei Suoni—a sweeping sculpture park studded with large-scale, lilting works of iron, bronze, stone and wood. Fuchs, a self-described “sound artist,” complements the land surrounding his farmhouse with these organic designs, some of which are over 30 meters (that’s over 90 feet, to you Yankees). As winds pass over or through the sculptures, vibrations allow the pieces to “sound in their own strange and evocative language,” murmuring and occasionally fluttering.

Fuchs displays smaller-scale—though equally zany—instruments in his nearby barn. Lucky visitors are treated to performances from Fuchs and his percussionist son, Zoro Babel. Fuchs’s constructed landscape, and its sensory delights, seems to be the artist’s sustenance—he rarely leaves his farm and the Giardino dei Suoni. For those who wish to see his delicate pieces, from dainty bells to massive curlicues—and to hear their unique music—an appointment can be booked via phone or email.

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Janet

Janet is a senior at Kenyon College studying English with a Creative Writing emphasis. She has a particular affinity for American literature, and enjoys discovering the narrative(s) behind a piece of art. GBlog is her blogging debut, and she is grateful for newfound exposure to objects such as the “Bug Light.” (She favors the stately praying mantis.)

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