In a few days, the Labirinto della Masone in Fontanellato will inaugurate the exhibition Knock Knock Knock. Iron Guardians from the Cesati Collection, curated by Alessandro Cesati and Franco Maria Ricci Foundation. From 14 September 2025 to 6 January 2026, visitors will be guided on a journey of discovery through an exceptional sequence of iron doorknockers from the collection that Fiorenzo Cesati began to build in the mid-1970s, as part of his broader and more systematic research programme on antique iron.

 

 

The sixty-five doorknockers – on display for the first time in Italy – at the Labirinto della Masone, have been carefully selected according to essentially qualitative criteria, and the important distinctive feature they share is that they are all – in whole or in part – “figurative”: in the best cases, the doorknocker takes the form of an animal carved in the round, while in others, the body of the object is embellished with one or more decorative elements such as a zoomorphic protome, a human figure, a human head or a vegetal motif. Certainly among the most significant in the entire Cesati collection, the specimens on display are unique pieces made mainly in Italy and Spain, but also in France, Austria and Germany, dating from the 14th to the 18th century.

 

 

Doorknockers thus become the protagonists of an unprecedented “wunderkammer”, in which their aesthetic qualities are highlighted and their apotropaic meanings rediscovered, leading to an exploration of the great theme of the door as a physical and symbolic passageway, discussed and explored in depth by Stefano Salis in his extensive contribution at the centre of the volume documenting the exhibition. Ten years after the opening of the Labirinto della Masone – itself an emblem of a continuous crossing between interiority and the outside world – these works, suspended between art and mystery, will populate for a few months the rooms of the museum that houses the art collection of Franco Maria Ricci, the visionary publisher known throughout the world for his passion for the unusual, the marvellous, the enigmatic and the lesser-known areas of art history.

 

 

Knock Knock Knock. Iron Guardians from the Cesati Collection

curated by Alessandro Cesati and Franco Maria Ricci Foundation

From 14 September 2025 to 6 January 2026

Labirinto della Masone, Strada Masone 121, Fontanellato (PR)

For further information, visit: https://www.labirintodifrancomariaricci.it/