In Porto Selvaggio, a project keeping memory alive

In Porto Selvaggio, within the landscape Renata Fonte helped protect, a red bench becomes a place of remembrance. More than a symbol against violence towards women, the installation gives words a physical presence and allows a voice to continue speaking.

Inaugurated on 25 November 2021, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Red Bench dedicated to Renata Fonte was created as part of a project promoted by the social promotion association Flow Libere Espressioni, with the structure produced by Level Project and the artistic contribution of Marta Lagna.

Renata Fonte, a councillor and activist from Nardò, was murdered in 1984. Her story is deeply connected to the defence of the local landscape and, in particular, to the protection of Porto Selvaggio, today one of the most significant natural areas in Salento.

Marta Lagna’s Writing on the Red Bench

Across the two backrests of the bench, Marta Lagna hand-lettered a passage by Renata Fonte:

“And I am still here, trying to write a story, my story. Someone silenced my voice… but somewhere in the background there is still a melody of a few notes, the musical theme of everything I carry within me.”

The choice of calligraphy introduces an essential element into the project: the voice becomes a sign.

Renata Fonte’s words are not simply reproduced. Through handwriting, they acquire a physical presence and become part of the architecture of the bench itself. The calligrapher’s gesture moves memory from quotation into experience.

Sitting on the bench therefore means entering into a relationship with those words: reading them, moving through them and allowing them to become part of the surrounding landscape.

Porto Selvaggio, a Place of Memory

The location of the installation is far from incidental.

Porto Selvaggio viewpoint connects Renata Fonte’s personal and political memory with the territory she fought to protect. The landscape surrounding the bench becomes part of the story: sea, vegetation, coastline and the park’s public dimension create a setting where memory remains tangible.

Protecting this landscape was central to Renata Fonte’s political commitment. The bench therefore carries a meaning that goes beyond raising awareness about violence against women: it remembers a woman through the very place her commitment helped preserve.

A Bench as a Contemporary Monument

The structure was produced and donated by Level Project, while Marta Lagna’s artistic contribution transforms its surface through writing.

It is precisely this encounter between material, words and landscape that turns an everyday object into a small contemporary monument.

The bench retains its original function — a place to stop, sit and look — while taking on another dimension. It becomes a space for remembrance and reflection.

The colour red, associated with awareness against violence towards women, acquires an additional meaning through its dialogue with words about voice, silence and memory.

When Calligraphy Becomes Memory

For Marta Lagna, writing is not simply a decorative technique. It is a language capable of occupying surfaces, architecture and public spaces.

In Porto Selvaggio, calligraphy takes on an even more precise role: giving visible form to a voice that was silenced.

Renata Fonte’s words continue to exist through the gesture of writing and through the people who encounter them. The words move from the page into the landscape, while the landscape becomes, in turn, a keeper of memory.

A Sign That Continues to Speak

The Red Bench in Porto Selvaggio brings together art, memory and civic commitment.

The project connects awareness against violence towards women with the story of Renata Fonte and the protection of one of Salento’s most significant landscapes. Marta Lagna’s calligraphy makes this memory tangible, readable and permanently present within the public space.

A voice can be silenced. A story can be written again. And a place can continue to remember it.