Beverly Pepper Park — Rocca Park, Todi
Beverly Pepper Park, also known as Rocca Park, is an outdoor sculpture park in Todi, Umbria, created in honour of Beverly Pepper (1922–2020), the American sculptor who made the medieval hill town her principal home from the 1950s onward. Set against the dramatic landscape of the Tiber valley below Todi’s historic centre, the park brings together monumental steel and earth works that exemplify Pepper’s career-long investigation of form, material, and site-specific integration. It stands as both a tribute to a major 20th-century artist and a living example of land art in the Italian landscape.
At a glance
- Type
- Outdoor sculpture park and land art installation
- Period
- Late 20th–early 21st century; Beverly Pepper active in Todi from the 1950s
- Style
- Monumental sculpture; land art; site-specific installation
- Location
- Todi, Province of Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Overview
Beverly Pepper was one of the foremost American sculptors working in the monumental and land art traditions; her decades-long residence in Todi rooted her practice deeply in the Umbrian landscape. The Rocca Park assembles her large-scale works in a setting that amplifies their dialogue between industrial materials — Cor-Ten steel, cast iron — and the organic contours of the hillside. The park reinforces Todi’s identity as a centre where contemporary art and medieval heritage coexist, drawing visitors interested in both cultural tourism and contemporary sculpture.
History
Beverly Pepper arrived in Italy in the early 1950s, initially to study painting in Rome, and eventually settled in Todi where she worked for over six decades. Her transition from painting to sculpture came after a formative encounter with large-scale industrial steel production, which she witnessed at a plant in Turin in 1960. Over her long career she created major works for public spaces in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Rocca Park formalises her connection to Todi as a permanent legacy, recognising the town’s role as the creative and personal anchor of her life’s work.
What you see
The park features monumental works in Cor-Ten and painted steel rising from grassed terraces, with the rust-orange oxidation of the metal playing against the green hillside and distant views over the Tiber valley. Pepper’s characteristic forms — tall, tapering spires, wave-like earth berms, and geometric solids — invite viewers to move around and through the sculptures rather than simply observe them. The integration of the works into the sloping terrain reflects Pepper’s consistent interest in sculpture that does not merely occupy a landscape but is shaped by and shapes it.
Cultural significance
Beverly Pepper’s work is held by major museums worldwide including MoMA New York and the Hirshhorn Museum; her Italian residency is considered central to her development as a sculptor working at monumental scale. Rocca Park gives Todi — already celebrated for its intact medieval centre — a contemporary cultural dimension that attracts art-focused visitors and scholars of post-war American and Italian sculpture.
Practical information
- Address
- Todi, Province of Perugia, Umbria (near the Rocca area of the historic centre)
- Hours
- Check the Comune di Todi or local tourist office for current opening hours and access information
- Coordinates
- 42.7800° N, 12.4052° E
Getting there
Todi is most easily reached by car via the E45 road (Perugia–Terni) or the SS3bis, exiting at Todi–Ponte Rio. From Perugia, the drive is approximately 40 km (30–35 minutes). Todi Ponte Rio is the nearest railway station, served by regional trains from Terni and Perugia; a bus connects the station to the historic centre about 9 km away. Long-distance coaches from Rome and Florence also serve Todi.