Andrea Mastrovito's The Drawing Hall: Italy's First Drawing Center in a Provincial Industrial Shed

Artist Andrea Mastrovito (born 1978 in Bergamo) founded The Drawing Hall in 2021 in Grassobbio, a town of 6,000 near Bergamo, inside a former industrial warehouse. The space is Italy's first dedicated to drawing, inspired by New York's Drawing Center, Magazzino Italian Art, and Center for Italian Modern Art. Co-founded with filmmaker Marco Marcassoli and photographer/graphic designer Walter Carrera, and managed with Claudia Santeroni, it is entirely self-funded through donations, limited-edition multiples, and occasional private sponsors. The inaugural 'episode zero' exhibition featured Mastrovito's preparatory drawings for the apse of San Giovanni XXIII church in Bergamo, attracting over 1,000 visitors. Subsequent shows included Luisa Rabbia in September 2022, whose opening drew hundreds of diverse locals from mechanics to the Atalanta president. The space publishes a 'Quaderno' catalog for each exhibition. Mastrovito maintains a studio in Brooklyn but lives most of the year in Bergamo, which he describes as experiencing a 'small Lombard Renaissance' over the past 15 years. He emphasizes the importance of artists working from the periphery upward, engaging communities directly.