«Ars gratia artis»: Twenty Years of the Casa degli Artisti in Gallipoli

The Casa degli Artisti in Gallipoli turns twenty, and marks the anniversary with a show running through the end of 2026. On display are works gathered over two decades of activity: donations, certificates, small rarities kept within the house’s rooms.

Alongside the works of invited artists are the latest pieces by the house’s own resident, Giorgio De Cesario, gathered under the title «Sfascismo», a word the artist coined for his own reading of the present.

One section is dedicated to students from the lower-secondary classes of the Istituto Comprensivo Polo 2 in Gallipoli — classes I, II and III F, III A and III B — who made mail-art works on the theme of love, guided by teachers Cinzia De Lorenzis, M. Teresa Sette and Andrea Margiotta, under headteacher Lucilla Vaglio.

Among the memorabilia on display: an unpublished manuscript by Gabriele D’Annunzio, two lithographs by Basilio Cascella, paintings by Salvatore Pepe, hand-retouched late-nineteenth-century photographs, and artist’s books from the Archivio Verbamanent in Sannicola.

The artists on display. Anna Alfarano, Giuseppe Ashram, Michele Lucio Bruno, Pasquale Cavalera, Nadia Cera, Rita Corciulo, Danny H. Cortese, Carina Corvaglia, Giorgio De Cesario, Rita De Matteis, Ilaria Ferramosca, Amanda Gesualdi, Katia Giannotta, Elisabetta Lenti, Michelle Marino, Anna Chiara Mauro, Anna Pia Merico, Antonio Napolitano, Francesco Napolitano, Luigina Parisi, Salvatore Pepe, Max Hamlet Sauvage, Raffaella Scorrano.

Practical information. From 27 June through the end of 2026, La Casa degli Artisti, Via Lepanto 1, Gallipoli (Lecce). Curated by Domenicaisabella Bono Mariano, Raffaele Bono Mariano and Maria Cristina Maritati. With the collaboration of the Assemblea Territoriale di CittadinanzAttiva, the Associazione La Barcaccia, and Maddalena Castegnaro, head of the Archivio di libri d’artista and the Collettivo ScriptorArt.