In the heart of Puglia
Walking
inside a heart.
Masseria LoJazzo is a heart-shaped courtyard. From the ground you don't notice: you walk in, you cross it, you live in it. It can only be seen from the sky.
Masseria LoJazzo is a heart-shaped courtyard. From the ground you don't notice: you walk in, you cross it, you live in it. It can only be seen from the sky.
Ceglie lies in the heart of Puglia, halfway between the Ionian and the Adriatic, between Matera and Lecce. Just outside the town, among the olive trees, there is a jazzo...
Whoever raised the dry-stone walls of the Jazzo's courtyards wanted a pen for sheep: in Puglia it is called a jazzo, and it gave the place its name. They didn't notice that, in tracing those low walls, they were drawing the most poetic shape there is. Or did they know? No document says so, and in any case the answer to that question is perhaps the least interesting part of a story made of chance, magic and spontaneity.
Nicola opens Google Maps, looks for the masseria and zooms in. He sees the low walls, the trulli, the masseria, and is astonished: together they form a drawing that looks remarkably like a heart. A real, anatomical heart.
The arteries of 2008, the hearts of 2013 and 2014: for years we had drawn inspiration from the shape of the place we lived in, without ever having seen it. The place was speaking before we knew how to listen.
The final seal came with the installation Arterie (2019), a work of landscape art that, by "drawing" the missing part — the arteries — completed this ancient design with a contemporary hand. A reverent addition, a tribute to the ancient genius.
So now the Heart of Puglia has its arteries too. From the sky you can see the work whole; when you are here you can walk inside it, and become part of the masseria's circulatory system.
The same drawing became the logo of the Jazzo.
From this shape theHeartAI was born: the AI heart powered by the emotions of the planet and of humanity.
Rabat, the Royal Library of Morocco · 2024.
Eindhoven, Dutch Design Week · 2024.
Martina Franca, CitArts during the G7 · 2024.
Osaka, the Italy Pavilion at the Expo · 2025.
Visit the heart of the world →inside a heart.
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