Walking on Water

Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked side by side for decades to create massive landscape installations like The Gates in Central Park. Now, seven years after Jeanne-Claude’s death, Christo arrives in Italy to carry out their long-planned project: the construction of a two-mile floating footpath, covered in shimmering saffron fabric, to an island in the middle of Lake Iseo. The Floating Piers is a colossal undertaking—one that comes perilously close to shutting down when local authorities lose control of the crowds clamoring to experience it. But Christo and his team rally, enabling some 1.2 million visitors to delight in the glorious sensation of walking on water.