Il giro del sole

Just a few steps from Piazza della Sala, you arrive at a smaller, quieter square: Piazzetta dell’Ortaggio, once known as the old fish market. This is where you’ll find one of Pistoia’s best-known contemporary artworks, Il Giro del Sole, created in 1994 by the local artist Roberto Barni. In front of you, three bronze figures of young men seem to emerge from the ground. They all start from the same point, but each moves in a different direction. The detail that stands out right away: their eyes are blindfolded, and yet each one holds a small oil lamp. At first, the scene might feel a bit unusual, almost unsettling. But the idea behind it is simple and quite powerful: moving forward without seeing, guided only by your own light. The title, The Circle of the Sun, suggests a continuous movement, a cycle that repeats itself. These three figures seem to represent different paths, as if each one is following their own way. The lamp they carry echoes an ancient image of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who searched for truth with a lantern. Here, the search feels more personal, more inward. You move forward without fully understanding, but you keep going anyway. Roberto Barni, who was born here in Pistoia, often explores this figure of the blindfolded man. For him, art isn’t tied to a specific time, it moves across eras, invoking memory and reflection, and raising questions rather than giving clear answers. Here, in the middle of the square, these three figures simply invite you to pause, to look, and maybe to ask yourself which direction you would choose.