Galleria Poggiali Opens New Milan Space with Fabio Viale Solo Show

Galleria Poggiali, a historic Florentine gallery founded in 1984, is expanding to Milan with a new space at Foro Bonaparte, between Brera and Castello Sforzesco. The gallery, which already operates two locations in Florence (via della Scala and via Benedetta) and two in Pietrasanta (via Garibaldi and via Marconi), will inaugurate its Milanese outpost on January 18 with a site-specific intervention by sculptor Fabio Viale. Lorenzo Poggiali, the gallery director, explained that the decision to open in Milan was driven by the city's central role in Italy's contemporary art system, attracting curators, journalists, collectors, and museum directors. The new space is a 70-75 square meter orthogonal room with high ceilings (5 meters) designed for single-artist installations. The inaugural exhibition, titled "Lucky Hei," features Viale's reinterpretation of Michelangelo's Pietà. After his earlier work "Souvenir Pietà," which depicted Christ alone, Viale now presents the Madonna holding not Christ but Lucky Hei, a Nigerian Catholic refugee who fled to Italy. The installation includes a life-size photograph printed on poster paper, alongside Viale's statue of the Pietà without Christ. A recorded voice of Lucky Hei telling his migrant story will accompany the exhibition. Poggiali emphasized the importance of a central location for a continuous gallery activity, despite the trend of revitalizing peripheries.