La Mela Reintegrata or The Apple Made Whole Again (Milan, Italy, 2015-present)

The “Big Apple” of Milan, Italy, is a sculpture called “La Mela Rintergrata” (“The Apple Made Whole Again”) by Michelangelo Pistoletto that is outside of Central Station (Milano Centrale railway station). The white apple (eight meters high by eight in diameter, and weighing 11 tons) shows a bite that has been repaired with steel stitching.
 
The sculpture was first shown at Milan’s Expo 2015 in May 2015, and was moved to the Central Station (Stazione Milano Centrale) on March 21, 2016.
   
Similar “Big Apple” roadside attractions include a “Big Red Apple” in Cornelia, Georgia (1926-present), a “Big Apple” that was in Wathena, Kansas (1928-1940), a “Big Apple” kiosk in Mumbles, Swansea Bay, Wales (1930s-present), a “Big Apple” at Robinette’s Apple Haus in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1973-present), a “Big Apple” tourist information booth in Meaford, Ontario, Canada (1974-present), a “Big Apple” in Thulimbah, Queensland, Australia (1978-present), a “Big Apple” in Colborne, Ontario, Canada (1987-present), a “Big Apple” at the Big Apple Cafe & Event Centre in Waitomo Caves, New Zealand (1995-present), a “Big Apple” in Medina, New York (2000-present), a “Big Apple” at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (2008-present) and the “Big Apple of New England” at the Johnny Appleseed Visitors Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts (2019-present).
     
   
Wikipedia: Michelangelo Pistoletto
Michelangelo Pistoletto (born 23 June 1933 in Biella) is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection and the unification of art and everyday life in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk.
     
Twitter         
Francesco Silver
@Fra_Silver
Milan, the italian Big Apple // #EXPO2015 #EXPOmilano2015 #RAIexpo #igersitalia #igersmilano… https://instagram.com/p/2P_UEGpMNB/
2:24 AM · May 4, 2015 from Milan, Lombardy·Instagram
 
Twitter
Marco De Allegri
@AllegriDe
.@secolourbano @ExpoinCitta @MaterialiDesign @giorgiotartaro @paola_pozzoli82 also Milan has (is) a big apple!
10:59 AM · May 6, 2015·Twitter for Android
 
Twitter
Ekaterina mokshina
@e_mokshina
Big #apple… And it’s not New York, it’s #Milan)) #Italy
9:21 PM · May 10, 2015·Twitter for Windows Phone
 
Twitter
News from Italy
@newsfromitaly
Not a big apple in the Big Apple but a big apple in Milan, Italy #photo #LoveItaly
6:11 AM · Aug 2, 2015·Twitter for BlackBerry
 
Twitter
Alpana Deshmukh
@AlpanaDeshmukh
The Big Apple in #Milan [Green apple] [Flag of Italy] Tactile felt sculpture by #michelangelopistoletto [Green heart] #flasheso… http://ift.tt/1RetdQs
6:21 AM · Oct 16, 2015·IFTTT
 
Corriere Della Sera (February 20, 2016)
PIAZZA DUCA D’AOSTA
Michelangelo Pistoletto’s La Mela moves to Central Station
The assembly of the work donated by the artist to the city begins, which has an estimated value of 800 thousand euros. The homonymous foundation will take care of the maintenance for 20 years

by Paola D’Amico
The segments of “La Mela Reintegrata” by Michelangelo Pistoletto are in the square in front of the Central Station, the gateway to the city. The editing of the work will begin in the next. The council yesterday approved the resolutions of acceptance of the donation by the Maestro and the Pistoletto foundation. The opinion of the Superintendence of Fine Arts and Landscape and of the Landscape Commission was also positive on the new and definitive location of the apple of extraordinary size - eight meters high by eight in diameter, consisting of a metal structure covered with a carpet of natural grass and with a «Bite» on the top, reinstated thanks to a metal seam - which dominated the scene of Piazza Duomo in May 2015, at the opening of Expo.
             
YouTube
Time-lapse “La Mela Reintegrata”
May 3, 2016
Cittadellarte
Realizzazione de “La Mela Reintegrata”, Milano 2016
Making-of “The Apple Made Whole Again”, Milan 2016
Opera di Michelangelo Pistoletto, inizativa a cura di Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto con Città di Milano, ExpoinCittà, in collaborazione col FAI.
Work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, curated by Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto with Città di Milano, ExpoinCittà, in collaboration with FAI.
       
YouTube
Inaugurazione “La Mela Reintegrata”
May 3, 2016
Cittadellarte
Inaugurazione de “La Mela Reintegrata”, Milano 2016
Opening of “The Apple Made Whole Again”, Milan 2016
Opera di Michelangelo Pistoletto, inizativa a cura di Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto con Città di Milano, ExpoinCittà, in collaborazione col FAI.
Work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, curated by Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto with Città di Milano, ExpoinCittà, in collaboration with FAI.
 
Twitter 
Alice Tentori
@alaishhhhh
Milano is the new Big Apple. [Green apple][Red apple] #ilovemilan @ Milan, Italy https://instagram.com/p/BDQcG66oQos/
9:23 AM · Mar 22, 2016 from Milan, Lombardy·Instagram
 
Twitter
Milano da vedere
@Milanodavedere
The Big Apple [Green apple] #milano #milan #milanodavedere #milanocity #instamilano #milanodaclick #italy #italia #italien #ins…
3:57 AM · May 11, 2016·IFTTT
     
Milano Style (November 28, 2016)
EXPO MILANO 2015 MONUMENTS AND SIGHTSEEING
The Big Apple of Milan – by Michelangelo Pistoletto
Celia Abernethy
(...)
In the plaza in front of Central Station Milan, there is a giant, white Apple with a bite that has been repaired with steel stitching. A sculpture by Michelangelo Pistoletto which had been donated to the city of Milan in honor of the food and nourishment themed Expo of 2015.
 
Twitter
Jay Nordlinger
@jaynordlinger
Milan may not be New York, but it has its own big apple.
3:40 PM · May 16, 2017·Twitter for iPhone
   
Terzo Paradiso (July 29, 2017)
THE APPLE MADE WHOLE AGAIN
The Apple Made Whole Again is a symbolic work opening itself up to the world, in the same way as the train station, also symbolically, opens the city up to the world.
 
“The symbol of the apple crosses the entire history we have behind us, starting from the bite, which represents the detachment of mankind from nature and the origin of the artificial world. The Apple Made Whole Again represents the entry into a new era in which the artificial and the natural worlds are reunited producing a new planetary balance. The symbol of the apple made whole again symbolizes the recomposition of the opposites: nature and artifice. The apple signifies nature; the bite of the apple signifies artifice, the way we see it used in the globally renown logo of a multinational computer company, emblem of a technology that has integrally replaced nature. With The Apple Made Whole Again artifice performs the task of resewing the part removed by the bite thus rejoining humanity to nature, rather than leading it farther and farther away.”
(Michelangelo Pistoletto)
 
Twitter
Joyace Tours Pvt Ltd
@joyacetours
Big Apple Milan !
1:32 PM · Nov 12, 2017·Twitter Web Client
 
Twitter
Pedro Ferrer Martino
@pedroferrerfoto
Big Apple.
Creo que con esta imagen frente a la estación central de Milán doy por finalizado este viaje.
Que bien me lo he pasado, preparándolo, viajando y recordándolo con mis fotos hasta hoy. Seis meses de diversión.
Es hora de avanzar. Los países bált… http://ift.tt/2mlnxNK
Translated from Spanish by Google
Big Apple.
I think that with this image in front of Milan’s central station, I end this trip.
What a good time I have had, preparing it, traveling and remembering it with my photos until today. Six months of fun.
It is time to move on. The Baltic countries ...http://ift.tt/2mlnxNK
5:37 PM · Jan 9, 2018·IFTTT
 
Twitter     
Colin Mulcahy
@colin_mulcahy
A taste of the big apple! [Green apple] 8 metered high and made of Steele and powdered marble. #milan #travelblogger #wanderlust #travel #25countrychallenge http://bit.ly/2B3hl4Z
8:48 AM · Nov 13, 2018·IFTTT
 
Twitter
Jill Clarke Artist
@jilllynette
Hello #Milan your giving the big apple a run for it’s money. I hadn’t left the train station and your sculpture was blowing my mind #ilovemilano #jillanddougtravel #travelblogging #slowtravel #sculpture #applesculpture #trainstations #italy
4:26 AM · Dec 11, 2018·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Peter Lovatt
@DrPeterLovatt
This is not the big apple [Green apple] Arrived in Milan, but for a moment thought I’d landed in New York #milan #notthebigapple #qualtrics #qualtricsx4 #pizzatime #italy
2:15 PM · May 8, 2019 from Milan, Lombardy·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Touchpoint Europe ™
@touchpointeuro
No, we are not in the ‘big apple’ but we do have one here in Milan!
TouchPoint Europe are with EMDR Associazione per l’EMDR Italia.
Come and see us today and tomorrow.
Ciao
6:19 AM · Jun 15, 2019·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Anirban Mahanti
@7amahanti
So many cyclist Woman biking with #AirPods.  #iPhone on many more hands. Even Milan’s Centrale Station can’t escape the charm of big Apple $AAPL.
3:42 AM · Jul 18, 2019·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Scott Humphrey - The Man, The Almost-Legend
@shumphrey1212
The Milan Central Train Station, and a Big Apple. Arrivederci, Italy! https://instagram.com/p/B10j57rlano/?igshid=15p7v39fp4jvy
4:14 AM · Aug 31, 2019·Instagram
 
Twitter
London Cakery
@LondonCakery
The big apple in #Milan #italy @aarena_photography @minalpurohitrobson #love #nofilter https://ift.tt/2NaN0sw
9:37 AM · Sep 13, 2019·IFTTT
     
Twitter
Victor C. Ibezim
@sealsvic2
Replying to @cchukudebelu
What of Milan Metro? It is grand too with that big apple in your face as you step out.
5:04 PM · Sep 23, 2019·Twitter for Android
 
Twitter
𝙶𝚒𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚙𝚙𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚒
@giusbrindisi
The Big Apple.
Ah no…
#milano
#milan
6:47 AM · Oct 9, 2019 from Stazione Milano Centrale·Twitter for iPhone