Giorgio Milani's Studio in an 18th-Century Frescoed Church

Italian artist Giorgio Milani (born 1946) has established his studio in the deconsecrated 18th-century church of San Rocco in Borgonovo Val Tidone, surrounded by frescoes by Luigi Mussi (1694-1771). Milani, known for his visual poetry blending image and text since the mid-1970s, found the space ideal for his creative work. His practice includes Poetari assemblages combining sculpture and poetry, first exhibited in Milan in 1997 at the Fondazione Stelline curated by Tommaso Trini. Notable public works include the fountain in Salsomaggiore Terme (Opera aperta fra Oriente e Occidente, 2010), a fountain in Brera, Milan (Dove mormori eterna l’acqua di giovinezza, 2007), the 8-meter ROSAe (2010) at Fiorenzuola d'Arda railway station, and Porta di Luce (2014) for the Church of Santa Franca in Piacenza. In 2011, he worked on 190 corten panels for the Campiello di Vigonovo facade with verses chosen alongside Philippe Daverio. Milani participated in the XIV Quadriennale di Roma in 2005, the Berlin State Library Unter den Linden in 2009, and a group show on visual poetry at MART Rovereto in 2010. In 2013, he held two solo shows in New York: Poetari e frottage at the Italian Consulate General and White Words at Boffi Soho. In 2020, the Volumnia gallery in Piacenza hosted a major solo exhibition La scrittura come enigma curated by Elena Pontiggia, accompanied by a monograph published by Gli Ori.