With We Rise by Lifting Others, the light installation by Marinella Senatore, Milano Marittima inaugurates the winter season with a new kind of light—one that speaks of community, of encounters capable of transforming public space. It is here that the Mare d’Arte Festival chose to make its preview appearance, opening its path precisely with this work.

The work, which has already appeared in global contexts such as the NOOR Festival in Riyadh and Unlimited at Art Basel, arrives in the Romagna Garden City as a clear signal: culture can—and must—be accessible, shared, and immersive. Senatore uses light as a means to build bonds, to remind us that collectivity rises together, that identity is never a single entity but an aggregation of voices, stories, and desires. The quotes that illuminate the installation—We Rise By Lifting Others and I Contain Multitudes—are not slogans, but fragments of a philosophy that runs through all her work, always dedicated to emancipation, urban dynamics, and social systems of cooperation.

During the inauguration, the luminous sculpture was accompanied by the voice of Sara Bertolucci, performer and vocalist, who created a sonic dialogue with the work. A performance that will come to life again on December 6, 7, 26 and January 5: four moments each day in which light meets song, turning the audience into an integral part of the work.

The ideal path suggested by the festival is a kind of open-air art walk: from Senatore’s work to the pier, where since this summer Non basta il canto delle sirene by Valerio Berruti has lived—an intervention that has permanently altered the skyline of the seaside town.

Mare d’Arte Festival is, above all, a declaration of intent: to celebrate symbols as forms of encounter, to transform difference into dialogue, multiplicity into community. A promise that begins with light and expands throughout the city.