Pomodoro designed a controversial fiberglass crucifix for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This exhibition made a strong impression on him, and a year after he moved to Milan where he joined the artistic community and became friends with Lucio Fontana, Dangelo, Sanesi, Baj, and others.

[1]: 205 In 1959, Arnaldo Pomodoro received a grant to study American art, and traveled to the United States for the first time.

In New York Pomodoro met Costantino Nivola and Enrico Donati who introduced him to such artists as Franz Kline, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and others.

[1]: 190  He also met sculptors David Smith and Louise Nevelson, and organized an exhibition New Work from Italy, dedicated to Italian artists.

[1]: 206 In 1995, the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro was created as a cultural and exhibition center dedicated to contemporary art.

In 1996, Arnaldo Pomodoro was awarded the Knight of the Great Cross of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere di gran croce dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica italiana).

[1]: 206  He then explained the idea behind this project:[3] "In the early 1970s, on the advice of some Pesaro friends, I visited Pietrarubbia, a small town in Montefeltro between the Marche and Romagna, which had been built, according to legend, in 980.

The Pietrarubbia Group was born, a work "in progress", a space defined by a series of sculptures – in fact, a space that became all sculpture – in which certain values are given meaning, certain historical values, in the sense that history is always the same… In short, I would like that anyone who sees this work could read within it the very spirit that comes from the Middle Ages: the gate that rises, the drawbridge, the foundation, the gate that opens and closes and can also be seen as a negative and positive book…"On Form and Movement:[1]: 199 According to me, sculpture must be projected into space in order to remove, as far as possible, the weight from the material and the work's fixed base.