On the occasion of GERMINALE – Monferrato Art Fest, the hills of the Lower Monferrato are transformed into an open-air museum, where contemporary art, history, tradition and natural beauty come together in a sensory journey of discovery through the region.
From September 12 to October 4, Bava hosts works by artist Gianluca Brando in its historic cellars.
The sculptures are displayed in the glass cases of the historic cellar. Among the works on display, Radici in aria (Roots in the Air), 2024, made of reinforced plaster and bronze, creates a dialogue between nature, architecture and matter. Collapsed capitals lying on the ground transform into a kind of metamorphic shrub, incorporating direct casts of roots which, deprived of their natural downward direction into the soil, project upwards. The root, a symbol of the bond with the earth and a metaphor for origins, thus becomes the protagonist of an inverted movement, suspended between ruin and possibility.
The plaster from which the capitals are made takes on a particular significance: the artist describes it as a true mineral archive of time, a sediment of a remote landscape in which ancient seas have left their traces. This material creates a particularly meaningful dialogue between the work and the geological history of Monferrato, from the great gypsum quarries of Montiglio to the historic SPES factory that once stood near the Bava winery.
Also on display is Little Imago, 2023, a series of small bronze sculptures created using the lost-wax casting technique from casts of the Tibetan fungus Yartsa Gunbu, known as “winter worm, summer grass”. The artist draws a parallel between the organism’s seasonal metamorphosis and the process of lost-wax casting: sprues and casting channels, normally removed, become an integral part of the sculptures, making the process through which the material takes shape visible.
Visitors can also see a work by Angolan artist Pedro Pires, Border Series 136 3-4, 2022, a cast metal sculpture measuring 195 × 45 × 75 cm. The work is a highlight of the 2025 edition of the festival and is now part of the winery’s permanent collection.
The exhibition opens at Bava Cellars on Saturday, September 12 at 11:00 am.
Of Fertile Marl, a Sea: Wine, Art and Soil – A Special Tasting Experience
The theme of soil, an essential element in shaping the character and expression of a wine, is also at the heart of a special tasting experience created by Bava for Germinale.
On Saturday, September 19, Saturday, September 26 and Saturday, October 3, at 11:00 am, visitors can take part in a guided tour of the historic cellars, accompanied by a tasting of three wines selected to tell the story of three different soils of Monferrato.
The experience is based on the idea of bringing wine and art into dialogue: the territory is expressed through the works on display, while the underground landscape becomes an integral part of the sensory experience in the glass.
Gypsum and tuff thus tell a story of people and place that runs through the hills of Monferrato and intertwines with the history of the Bava family and its winery.
Guided tour of the historic cellars and tasting: €25
Reservation required. To book: benvenuti@bava.com, tel. +39 0141 907083.
Germinale is a project conceived and organised by the Quasi Fondazione Carlo Gloria APS, a social promotion association based in Rinco di Montiglio. The third edition, taking place in 2026, is organised in partnership with Casa degli Alfieri, a theatre company and performing arts centre responsible for the festival’s performing arts programme.
The festival takes its name from the seventh month of the French Republican Calendar, itself derived from the Latin germinalis (from germen, “sprout”), meaning “the month when plants begin to germinate”.
Germinale embodies the idea of rebirth, sprouts and new leaves, which here becomes a broader metaphor for the cultural renewal of these places through the diverse expressive languages of contemporary art.
The aim is to promote and enhance the area through a widespread exhibition and a programme of complementary activities hosted in distinctive and exceptional locations across the hills, villages and towns of Lower Monferrato.
Germinale 2026 involves 29 exhibition venues, 18 municipalities in Lower Monferrato and approximately 60 artists.