In Hall 10 at Marmomac, natural stone engages with the present through four exhibitions curated by Joseph Grima, Davide Fabio Colaci, Raffaello Galiotto and Giuseppe Fallacara, who interpret its possibilities across design research, technology and architectural experimentation, confirming the fair as an international benchmark for those observing the transformations of stone materials.
Verona, 2nd of July 2026. Since its inception, Marmomac has dedicated a space to experimentation and forward-looking visions for the future of natural stone, with Hall 10 established as a key reference point for research, trends and new explorations in the stone industry.
To mark the event’s 60th anniversary – taking place in Verona from 22 to 25 September – the exhibition space THE BEDROCK | Leading the Future of Natural Stone is introduced under the artistic direction of architect Giorgio Canale of DDM Branding. The new name evokes bedrock in its dual meaning: both a geological foundation and a cultural symbol.
At the heart of the exhibition stands Pantheon, a symbolic installation celebrating Marmomac’s 60-year milestone. Created using 60 different natural stones from around the world, all supplied by Cereser, the installation consists of fifteen large-scale columns that form an immersive landscape, expressing both the international scope of the event and the extraordinary diversity of natural stone.
This year’s curatorial programme welcomes Joseph Grima and Davide Fabio Colaci, joining long-standing contributors Raffaello Galiotto and Giuseppe Fallacara, who have played a key role in shaping Marmomac’s research programme over the years. Through the exhibitions Sulla Pietra, Marble Interiors, Carisma Materico and Once Upon a Time, the „Sky” of Architecture, this year’s curators explore the relationship between natural stone, contemporary design, technological innovation and architectural experimentation.
SULLA PIETRA
Joseph Grima
In his first participation in Marmomac as curator, Joseph Grima signs Sulla Pietra, an exhibition that investigates the fate of natural stone in the architecture of the future, reinterpreted through the major environmental and technological transitions that are reshaping the meaning of contemporary design.
Moving beyond its image as a high-impact extractive material, stone is rethought here as an active field of experimentation: through reuse practices, digital fabrication processes and new research into low-emission materials, it is transformed into a matter capable of generating new languages across architecture, urban design and interiors.
From the ancient principle of spolia to the recovery of stone offcuts and dust used to create hybrid materials, the curatorial path traces a trajectory that challenges traditional hierarchies of matter. From this perspective, Grima identifies a new “golden age” of natural stone, in which digital technologies expand production possibilities and open new horizons for design imagination, redefining the relationship between material, sustainability, and form.
The exhibition thus becomes a narrative device in which stone is no longer merely a material but an archive of ongoing transformations.
MARBLE INTERIORS
Davide Fabio Colaci
Marble Interiors, curated by Davide Fabio Colaci – in his first curatorial collaboration with Marmomac – explores the role of marble and natural stone in interiors, highlighting their ability to construct complex, layered spatial languages.
The exhibition brings together ten interior design projects – five historical and five contemporary – through archival materials and design documentation, enabling a dialogue between approaches and solutions grounded in different visions. From often-overlooked historical masterpieces to more recent experimentation, the exhibition shows how marble is not merely a finishing material but an active component in the construction of interior space.
As the curator explains: “The dialogue between images, drawings and material samples reveals the complexity of a material that moves through time, constantly renewing itself through technological innovation and design experimentation. In this sense, marble is not intended as cladding, but as a generative component of interior space, capable of defining atmospheres, balances and identities.”
CARISMA MATERICO
Raffaello Galiotto
Raffaello Galiotto, for years a leading figure in Marmomac’s experimental projects, presents, for the 60th edition, Carisma Materico, an exhibition that addresses the return of stone culture in contemporary architecture through four mock-up installations dedicated to the relationship between material and construction.
The exhibition explores the tension between the loss of ancient know-how and the innovative drive brought by technological progress, where digital design and computerised manufacturing techniques open new horizons of precision, complexity and repeatability in the stone sector as well. In this context, stone renews its role as a building material, redefining its material charisma between expressive enhancement and reduced environmental impact.
The project compares different approaches, observing relationships between structure and ornament, lightness and gravity, surface and tactile dimension, showing how stone can express new linguistic and constructive possibilities for architecture.
C’ERA UNA VOLTA IL “CIELO” DELL’ARCHITETTURA
Giuseppe Fallacara
With C’era una volta il “cielo” dell’architettura, Giuseppe Fallacara opens a reflection on vaulted stone space as the origin of architecture, where enclosure and roof define the earliest forms of dwelling. The vault, understood since antiquity as a transposition of the firmament into masonry structure, becomes the field of stereotomy, the discipline that studies stone geometry so that it can be self-supporting through the very gravity that governs it.
At the centre of the installation are three swirling air columns crossing the space, evoking the sky and the fragility of the balance between construction and environment. Around them, prototypes developed by 17 selected universities, both Italian and international, unfold as part of the Marmomac Meets Academies 2026 project. The installation presents a vision of stone as a material in transformation, capable of being derived from waste and dust, of interacting with other elements, and of adopting lighter, higher-performance geometries.
The exhibition concludes with an invitation to bring stone design back to the centre of academic pathways, making it an ideal field for dialogue among material, structure and design.
Within The Bedrock, Stone Next, the area dedicated to technological innovation in the industry, and Stone&Style, Marmomac’s temporary shop, also return.
The curatorial vision of Marmomac’s 60th edition thus offers a multifaceted reflection on the future of stone materials, bringing together research, experimentation and new interpretations of stone through some of the most compelling voices in contemporary design and architecture.
About MARMOMAC
Marmomac is the leading international trade fair for the entire natural stone supply chain, from quarry to finished product, including technologies, machinery and tools. Born in Verona, in one of Italy’s main marble districts, Marmomac is today the sector’s leading international hub, a privileged place for innovation, culture and training. With around 1,400 exhibitors from more than 54 countries and a global community of over 50,000 operators and professionals from 140 nations (2025 data), the event strengthens, edition after edition, its role as a strategic platform for the sector, a meeting point for companies, designers, institutions and operators from around the world. A visit to Marmomac allows visitors to discover product innovations and technological developments, updates on machinery evolution, exhibitions, in-depth insights, and accredited professional training, with a focus on the link between business, design, and product culture – a value recognised internationally.
Partener Principal
MATEK Build Smart