Pietro Cascella

Pietro Cascella (born February 2, 1921 in Pescara, Abruzzo - died May 18, 2008 in Pietrasanta) is an Italian sculptor and painter, known for his Carrara marble sculptures. It was thanks to the passion of his father Tommaso and his brother Andrea Cascella, but especially that of his grandfather Basilio, that Pietro became interested in painting. At the age of 22, in 1943, he participated in the fourth edition of the Rome Quadriennale and in 1948, in the first post-war edition of the Venice Biennale. In Rome in 1938, he began to practice at the Accademia di San Luca and then made ceramic works and cuts of all kinds with his brother Andrea. In 1956, he again participated in the Venice Biennale. He collaborated around the same time with Sebastian Matta and addressed surreal themes. Most of his works are in marble and stone, sculptures usually composed of softened, rough or corroded petrified masses with cubist features and elements of geometric purism. Current Forza Italia coordinator Sandro Bondi said, when questioned by Claudio Sabelli Fioretti, that he was his collaborator and that he had managed to meet Berlusconi through Cascella. Pietro Cascella lived with his wife Cordelia Von den Steinen, also a sculptor, in the Verrucola Castle in Fivizzano, in the province of Massa-Carrara.