III. Venere

The third heaven — Venus — in Sabaudia, where rationalist architecture meets the sea.

Le Cabine del Paradiso – III. Venere is a mural created by artist Neve in 2021 in Sabaudia, Latina, 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 third Heaven is Venus (Venere) — the sphere of souls who loved ardently in life but whose ardor was not free from the pull of the earthly: desire, beauty, the intensity of longing. In Dante's Paradiso, Cunizza da Romano and the troubadour Folco of Marseilles appear here. In the alchemical tradition, Venus is copper — the metal of beauty and attraction, of reflection, of what draws bodies toward each other. The cabinet in Sabaudia, on the Lazio coast, carries two male figures facing each other across the full width of the tower: profiles in close-up, dark against black, on the verge of a kiss. Between their approaching faces, where the breath meets, opens a landscape — the silhouette of mountains against a magenta and violet sunset sky, the residue of light after the sun has fallen. At the base of this space between them, the ♀ symbol of Venus glows white. Two men — the choice is deliberate and precise, placing desire in a form that has historically been denied the name of love, and giving it the gravity of the planetary sphere. The sunset is the atmosphere of desire itself: saturated, liminal, the moment before.