Cryptic Venus

The main characters and subjects of this project are women from Lucca, feminine figure that shaped their lives based on their will. Doing so, they deprived themselves of their own identity in order to become symbolic icons, the reflection of the society they lived in.

What I want to represent is their stories and plumb the depth of their legacy that still affects our cultural heritage. For this reason I recall the cultural contest they lived in and, at the same time, and emphasize their contribution to the creation of Lucca’ social and cultural context and local community identity.

Although some of these characters are based on real people, the mystery and the unknown which surround them let public link them to an imaginary world, made up of ancestral fears and archetypes.

Starting from the idea of community, intended as the set of stories, symbols, rituals that identify it, this project aims to dig the stereotypes and their emblematic function, seeking especially the deepest fears men have to face during their lives and the necessity of belonging to the Community. This is an introspective project focused on men’s worries such as solitude, suffering, incomprehension, detachment. This feelings floor the human being, unarmed and defenseless facing loss and confusion.



The Mansi family was well-known in the 16th century due to the trade of silk. Lucida loved luxurious things and sumptuous parties, as much as she loved being surrounded by lovers. Someone says she sat for hours admiring herself in the mirror. The typical yellow color of the textiles made in Lucca was obtained from zafferrano and fixed with alum, the purple colors were obtained with the vegetable. She was adored by men but she killed them after their encounters. One day Lucida woke up and found a wrinkle on her face and became desperate, that's why the devil promised her to mantain her beauty. Twenty years later one dark stormy night the devil reappeared claiming Lucida’s soul. she jumped into her carriage and began racing around the walls of Lucca ending up in a lake where she drowned.