I Love the Mole
Amo La Mole

City of Ancona
Le Marche
Italy

The destiny of some resides in the name they carry: ‘it’s all in the name,’ one would say. It is the same for objects, places and events that give value to life. Amo la Mole, the summer bill of cultural events that for three years the city of Ancona has played host to inside the Mole Vanvitelliana is no different: its name almost seems like a linguistic game; a magic spell inside which one repeats the word ‘amo’ as though looking into a mirror. A mirror that is also the port’s Mandracchio canal, upon which the pentagonal building has been reflected for nearly 300 years — like an island, like a city within a city.

A magic spell that has made the Mole a centre of cultural appeal open to citizens and tourists, and one that is a natural evolution of the architecture and landscape redevelopment project which was started in 1977 by the city councillor and local mayor — thanks also to vital funding from the Cariverona Foundation — and completed in the 90s when the Mole’s space began to host exhibitions and important events, thus finally becoming accessible to the public.

This is the basis of a project that has transformed Vanvitelli’s masterpiece into a stage on the sea, a new agora of sustainable socialisation, beauty and dialogue. In the summer months Amo la Mole puts on important events in music, film, theatre and dance as well as meetings and talks, thereby continuing — again like a mirror — the winter bill of the Teatro delle Muse (Theatre of the Muses), which, like the Mole, has been enjoying a revival for some years now.

The spaces in Mole Vanvitelliana — the ideal gateway to the city — are open to citizens and tourists, and they can be openly attended without needing to be necessarily attached to events or exhibitions: the architectural legacy of the structure alone merits a stroll in which you find yourself suspended between sky and sea. The structural and acoustic characteristics of the complex facilitate a schedule that uses more spaces, even at the same time. There are 20,000 squared metres far and wide to cover in an entirely pedestrianised area.

The main entrance to the Mole is indicated by a white marble door that overlooks the impressive structure of Porta Pia, an ancient door to the city built at the end of the eighteenth century by Pope Pius VI. During the season the Mole’s entrance shines brightly, illuminated by the many lamps that highlight its role as the new cultural hub. The inner courtyard — with a tempietto dedicated to Saint Rocco — is surrounded by a building that runs along its five sides and is connected to an external corridor by two principal entrances. It is the area of the Mole that hosts concerts and events aimed at the general public. One of the pentagonal structure’s sides is used as an open-air cinema with an excellent daily schedule. Inside the building surrounding the courtyard there is a 99-capacity theatre created out of ancient storehouses on the ground floor. On the first floor of the Mole, the spaces normally dedicated to exhibitions host meetings and talks that anticipate public participation and, therefore, need a closer proximity between the speakers and the audience. Lastly, positioned on the outer side of the Mole and directly overlooking the sea, the quay harbours a bar with small tables: an area for socialising and refreshments provided with a stage of reduced dimensions for putting on small concerts.

During the summer, therefore, the Mole becomes a symbol; it becomes ‘a part referring to a whole’: Amo la Mole not only offers the opportunity to listen to a concert, watch a film or visit an exhibition, but it provides a way of discovering the city of Ancona in its entirety, rediscovering its cultural vitality, its dialectic vocation and its capacity to represent the soul better than its citizens, just like a magic mirror.


Special Thanks to:

Municipality of Ancona




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