Ico Parisi's Table Designs at Villa Reale di Monza

The exhibition 'Ritrovare Ico Parisi' at the Villa Reale di Monza presents seven tables designed by Ico Parisi between 1948 and 1955, rarely seen together. Parisi (Palermo, 1916 – Como, 1996) considered the table the axis of domestic conviviality. In 1947, he and his wife Luisa founded La Ruota, a hub for design, art, and culture. In 1952, urged by friend Alberto Sartoris, he earned an architecture degree from the Institut Aetheneum in Lausanne. From the early 1950s, his practice became prolific, adopting the concept of 'integration of the arts' from Carlo Belli and Sartoris, involving painters and sculptors in architectural projects. Examples include Casa Carcano in Maslianico (Como, 1950) with artists Mario Radice and Fausto Melotti. The exhibition, curated by the Archivio del Design di Ico Parisi di Como, showcases tables as a typology, accompanied by seating, exploring organic and abstract forms using materials from Cantù artisans. The display uses structural islands as invisible curtains, paying minimal tribute to Parisi's constant invention of the trilithic table structure. The show also reveals Parisi as architect, designer, art director, photographer, filmmaker, painter, and pure artist, honoring his interaction with the Monza and Brianza territory.