II. Mercurio

The second heaven — Mercury — on the tower of the Empoli substation.

Le Cabine del Paradiso – II. Mercurio is a mural created by artist Neve in 2021 in Empoli, Tuscany, commissioned by E-Distribuzione (Enel Group) under the patronage of the Ministero della Cultura.

One of nine electrical distribution cabins across Italy commissioned by E-Distribuzione for the 700th anniversary of Dante's death, each corresponding to a Heaven of the Paradiso read through a hermetic and alchemical framework. The project carries the patronage of the Ministero della Cultura and uses Aerlite photocatalytic paint. The geometric structure underlying the nine-cabin project is alchemical: each cabinet contributes an element of the Philosopher's Stone figure (circle/triangle/square), and the nine together reveal the eyes of Beatrice — the tenth, ineffable heaven. The second Heaven is Mercury (Mercurio) — the sphere of souls who did good deeds in life, but whose motivation contained an element of earthly ambition: the desire for fame, for recognition, for the world to remember them. Dante meets the Emperor Justinian here. In the alchemical tradition, Mercury is Hermes Trismegistus — the principle of intellect, of language, of the invisible messenger between worlds. The cabinet in Empoli, on Via della Repubblica, is a tall substation tower whose full height is occupied by a single large-scale figure: Mercury rendered as a classical marble bust — a young, androgynous face, curly hair, looking upward, the posture of one in motion or aspiration. The figure is monochromatic, grey-white against the black ground — the material of ancient sculpture, weightless at this scale.