Spazio Speciale: New Art Hub Opens in Palermo's Palazzo Speciale-Raffadali

Palermo continues its cultural boom with the opening of Spazio Speciale, a new art space in the former stables of the 15th-century Palazzo Speciale-Raffadali in the Ballarò district. The project includes two artist studios and the Vittorio Rappa project room, a commercial gallery. The studios belong to artists Ignazio Mortellaro and Luca Cutrufelli, while Vittorio Rappa, a gallerist with experience at Milanese galleries kaufmann repetto, Zero, and Spazio 22, runs the project room. This is Rappa's first entrepreneurial venture. The space is temporary, operating until November 2025, coinciding with Manifesta, the itinerant contemporary art biennial opening in Palermo on June 16, 2025. Rappa aims to test the market and potentially maintain a permanent space in Palermo if successful, alongside a planned Milan location. The inaugural exhibition, "Burrasca e Carbonio senza tempo," features artists Andrea Stepkova (born 1989, Palermo) and Gianandrea Poletta (born 1984, Venice). Stepkova's work focuses on botanical themes; Poletta presents "Babylon Object" (2018), an aluminum sculpture of banana leaf silhouettes, and plaster reliefs "Ache I" and "Ache II" (2018) inspired by ancient mosaics. Palermo, Italian Capital of Culture 2018, is attracting international attention from gallerists and art professionals.