Collica & Partners opens new space in a historic wine press house near Catania

Gianluca Collica, alongside partner Maurizio d'Agata, has inaugurated Collica & Partners in a restored 19th-century palmento (wine press house) in San Gregorio, Catania. The gallery occupies the former exhibition spaces of Francesco Collica's collection, Gianluca's father, a prominent collector and dealer in Catania's contemporary art scene during the 1980s and 1990s. The space deliberately avoids the white cube model, embracing a domestic, historically layered environment. Gianluca Collica, who has worked with international artists including Carla Accardi, Vincenzo Agnetti, Louise Bourgeois, and Giuseppe Penone, and collaborated with museums like Lenbachhaus Munich and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, aims to present three research lines: a return to painting, continuity with post-2008 crisis art practices, and artists from the early 1990s exploring intimate values. The opening was delayed three times due to the pandemic; the gallery opened during Italy's 'orange zone' restrictions. Future solo exhibitions are planned for Viola Yeşiltaç, Francesco Lauretta, Rä di Martino, and Barbara Cammarata. Collica emphasizes the need for stronger territorial roots and web communication in the pandemic era, and critiques public institutions for remaining trapped in clientelist logics.