Francesco Martani (1931-2016). Born in Mantua, he spent his childhood in San Benedetto Po, breathing the soul and moods of an indomitable river Po people. Since he was a boy, he copied the classics and painted landscapes and figures of the rural world. After high school in Mantua and Professor Tegon’s drawing school, he graduated in medicine and surgery at the University of Bologna. For scientific and artistic purposes, he made long stays in Geneva, Paris, and the United States. He alternated with painting periods dedicated entirely to sculpture, created in the art foundries and in the bronze workshops of Pietrasanta for over 30 years. After various expressive experiences, in his full maturity, he spontaneously adhered to the suggestions of the international informal to then return to a symbolic-figural visionary nature of the profound changes in the psychology of contemporary man and the world around him. He exhibited in multiple collective and personal shows in Europe and the United States. Presented in 1986 at the Venice Biennale, in the Italian pavilion, Art and Science section by the late Professor Giorgio Celli. In 1987, he was present in Milan, at the Palazzo Esposizione Permanente. A tireless man, with a great activities as cultural animator, he founded the Museum Center of Modern and Contemporary Art, as well as the Garden of European Culture, through the Cà la Ghironda Foundation in Ponteronca di Zola Predosa. An original and futuristic perceptual model between art and nature.

In addition to be an artist, writer, lover and art promoter, Francesco Martani was a close friend to the Zanini family. Collaborator for many institutional exhibitions at the Monastic Refectory of San Benedetto and the Ca ‘la Ghironda Foundation and protagonist of literary cafés and exhibitions in the spaces of the Art Gallery Zanini Arte.