Warhol's Italian Grand Tour: Naples to Milan Reveals the Artist Beyond Pop Stardom

The exhibition 'Andy Warhol. Passaggio in Italia 1975-1987' at Galleria Crédit Agricole in Milan, on view until June 20, 2026, explores Warhol's relationship with Italy, particularly his stays in Naples and Milan during the late 1970s and 1980s. The show features works, notebooks, documents, posters, invitations, and photographs that highlight his connections with gallerists Lucio Amelio in Naples, Alexander Iolas in Milan, and Lucio Anselmino (active in Milan, Turin, and Ferrara). Warhol's love for southern Italy began with a visit in 1956 and deepened in 1976 when he collaborated with Amelio on 'Fate Presto', published in Il Mattino, part of the 'Terrae Motus' project responding to the Irpinia earthquake and the violence of terrorism and camorra in Naples. The Vesuvius series of silkscreens, presented in 1985 at the Museo di Capodimonte in the exhibition 'Vesuvius by Warhol', juxtaposes nature's creative and destructive forces. The exhibition also includes Warhol's 'The Last Supper' (1987), shown at the 1987 opening of 'Warhol. Il Cenacolo' at the same venue, revealing his interest in religion and old masters. Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote a text for Warhol's 1976 exhibition at Lucio Anselmino's Milan gallery, describing the 'Ladies and Gentlemen' series (first shown in 1975 in Turin and at Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara) as a 'Byzantine apse' of silkscreens depicting 13 trans women who posed for $50 each.