Projects & Events

Palazzo Reale presents Materie viventi by the artist Maria Cristina Carlini, one of the most influential figures in Italian sculpture of recent decades. Held in the Courtyard of Honour and the Garden from 10 July to 30 August 2026, the exhibition has been organised to coincide with SUART 2026, an event comprising an international conference on sustainability in art and an exhibition of the sculptor’s work.

The exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Milan – Culture and produced by Palazzo Reale and the Maria Cristina Carlini ETS Foundation in collaboration with Ethicando Association, is curated by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, art critic and founder of the SUART event.

Materie viventi will open on Thursday 9 July 2026, marking the conclusion of the SUART 2026 conference, and will offer the public an immersive experience in one of the city’s most iconic locations.

Maria Cristina Carlini’s artistic practice, developed over more than fifty years, stems from a direct relationship with matter – often natural or recycled – understood as a living organism and a repository of memory. In Materie viventi, this approach takes shape in minimalist works and a close dialogue with the space, where sustainability and transformation emerge as a concrete creative practice.

The exhibition itinerary brings together two monumental works by the artist, conceived as elements that engage in dialogue with the architecture of Palazzo Reale and its outdoor spaces: Bosco (2012) in the Courtyard of Honour and Filemone e Bauci (2021) in the Garden. In a reciprocal and circular interplay, the sculptures guide the public through a sensory experience, enhanced by a lighting design that amplifies their symbolic resonance.

BOSCO (2012) – The sculpture consists of 19 iron elements arranged in a spiral, like a growing organism that invites the eye to move from the edge towards the centre. The choice of metal – durable yet susceptible to oxidation – highlights Carlini’s artistic vision: essential forms that retain traces and memories. The modular rhythm suggests a plant community, a ‘forest’ that is not depicted but evoked, in which verticality and the spaces between the forms become a place for passage and contemplation.

FILEMONE E BAUCI (2021) – In the Garden, the work combines reclaimed wood, iron and gold, creating a tension between fragility and durability, humble materials and preciousness. The title refers to the myth recounted by Ovid, a story of hospitality and fidelity that here becomes a metaphor for care: for others and for the natural world. The wooden surfaces, marked by their past, interact with the metal elements and with gold as a symbolic, rather than ornamental, light that emerges as a promise of regeneration. Situated between architecture and greenery, the work engages in a direct dialogue with the landscape and with the idea of transformation as an ethical, as well as a formal, possibility.

“The work stems from the need to bring together past and present. Reclaimed wood bears witness to a previous existence, whilst steel is more closely associated with the idea of technology and modernity” says the artist Maria Cristina Carlini. “In my artistic expression, there is a very strong reference to primal origins, the archaic and memory; in these, I seek and find the essence, I feel the sensation of grasping the profound, of eliminating the superfluous and of reaching the heart, the primal core of things and of ourselves. In this sense, memory is a fundamental element as it represents our identity. My aim is to generate an emotion that can spring from an archaic memory shared by many people. I seek the essence because within it, it is possible to find a collective feeling, as it stems from a deep ancestral source. Materials inspire me. I seek them out everywhere, especially wood, to give them a new life. Their stories are brought back to life in the sculptures, transforming into a contemporary narrative.”

«In Materie viventi sustainability is neither an ideological premise nor a programmatic intention; rather, it is the natural outcome of a profound relationship between the artist and matter. Maria Cristina Carlini immerses herself in the materials – often recycled – listens to their ancestral pulse and guides them through an alchemical transformation that breathes new life into them, giving rise to compelling reflections on the fate of humankind, the natural world and the defining values of our contemporary era,” comments Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, curator of the exhibition and founder of SUART (SUstainable ART). “Carlini’s works thus become vehicles for reflection on the great existential and social issues of the present – from safeguarding the planet to the crisis of values – in full harmony with the leitmotif of SUART 2026, which explores the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability in contemporary art”.

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Maria Cristina Carlini

She is one of the leading figures in contemporary Italian sculpture. Her artistic career began in the early 1970s in Palo Alto, where she initially focused on working with ceramics. She subsequently broadened her artistic research through the use of different materials – including stoneware, iron, Corten steel, reclaimed wood and paper – developing an original artistic language based on the relationship between matter, memory, nature and transformation. Throughout her career, she has created monumental sculptures as well as small and medium-sized works, which are now housed in numerous public and private collections across Europe, America and Asia. Several monumental installations are permanently situated in institutional venues and international urban spaces. Her work has been accompanied by significant publications and critical contributions from scholars and art historians, including Paolo Campiglio, Luciano Caramel, Claudio Cerritelli, Vittoria Coen, Guo Xiao Chuan, Martina Corgnati, Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, Gillo Dorfles, Carlo Franza, Maria Fratelli, Chiara Gatti, Flaminio Gualdoni, Yacouba Konaté, Frédérique Malaval, Laurence Pauliac, Elena Pontiggia and Cortney Stell. She lives and works in Milan, where in 2025 she established the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini ETS, founded with the aim of preserving and promoting her artistic heritage and fostering dialogue with cultural institutions, museums and universities. Among her most recent institutional recognitions, in 2026 several of her works were selected for SUSTART 2026 at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, as part of an international forum dedicated to the relationship between art, culture and sustainability. On 21 June 2026, the monumental sculpture Origine (2019) was added to the permanent collection of the Horti dell’Almo Collegio Borromeo park, further enriching its artistic holdings.

SUART 2026 (SUstainable ART)

SUART (SUstainable ART) is an international event with an academic, interdisciplinary, institutional and artistic focus, dedicated to analysing the evolution of the concept of sustainability in art within the traditional dimensions of sustainable development, namely environmental, social and economic sustainability. The forum brings together institutions, universities and stakeholders from the cultural and economic sectors in a discussion aimed at highlighting the role of art as a driver of sustainable development and cultural policy.

SUART, together with SUSTART (SUSTainable ART), both conceived by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, represent the two principal platforms for public scientific and institutional debate on the theme of sustainability in art promoted by the ‘Sustainable Art’ scientific committee of the Ethicando Association.

Whilst SUART, with its predominantly scientific focus, is organised annually in institutional museum and/or academic/university venues in Italy and/or abroad, SUSTART, which has a more institutional focus involving mainly representatives of local, national and international public bodies, takes place in Rome at the Chamber of Deputies.

The 2026 edition of SUART builds on previous editions, developed in international contexts and in dialogue with academic and cultural institutions: in 2024 at the Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, with a solo exhibition by Antonietta Viganone, and in 2025 in Milan at the Fabbrica del Vapore, as part of Milan ArtWeek, with an exhibition dedicated to Tiziano Calcari.

SUART 2026’s university partners are the Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, the University of Milan, the University of Florence, and UnitelmaSapienza University in Rome. The entire event is held under the patronage – amongst others – of the Cento Amici del Libro Association, the Antonietta Viganone Foundation and the Sangregorio Giancarlo Foundation, as well as other public and private bodies. The forum and the exhibition opening enjoy the patronage of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy.

INFORMATION

Title: Maria Cristina Carlini. Materie viventi

Curator: Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico

Technical Installation Manager: Giuseppe Tortato, architect, Studio Giuseppe Tortato Architetti

Design Team: Andrea Montironi, Giulia Chiappelli

Structural Engineer: Gianluca Puccetti

Safety Manager: Alessandro Fontana

Venue: Milan, Palazzo Reale, Courtyard of Honour and Garden

Dates: 10 July – 30 August 2026

Press preview in the presence of the artist and curator: 9 July from 10.00 am to 11.00 am

Admission: free

An exhibition organised by the Municipality of Milan – Culture Department, Palazzo Reale, the Maria Cristina Carlini ETS Foundation, in collaboration with Ethicando Association and Betting On Italy.

SUART 2026 Press Office (Conference and Exhibition):

SEC Newgate Italia: Cinzia Ghilotti cinzia.ghilotti@secnewgate.it; Laura Gialdi laura.gialdi@secnewgate.it

Municipality of Milan – Culture

Head of Communications: Elena Conenna elenamaria.conenna@comune.milano.it

Press Office: Silvia Egiziano silvia.egiziano@comune.milano.it

Maria Cristina Carlini ETS Foundation Press Office:

IBC Irma Bianchi Communication info@irmabianchi.it 

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Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., at the Chamber of Deputies (Palazzo del Seminario, Sala del Refettorio, Via del Seminario n. 76 – 00186 Rome), the third edition of the SUSTART event (SUSTART 2026) will be held, under the artistic and scientific direction of Milanese art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico.
The event consists of an international forum on the sustainability of art and culture and an exhibition of a work of art by a contemporary artist. For the 2026 edition, the artist Maria Cristina Carlini has been selected, author of excellent sculptures permanently exhibited in Italian and foreign museums and monuments.
The forum is an annual discussion platform at the Chamber of Deputies, where local and national institutional representatives and leading figures from the worlds of business, the professions, academia and universities, art and culture discuss how the promotion of art and culture can be a driving force for regional development with a view to sustainable development, as advocated by the UN's 2030 Agenda and UNESCO's Culture 2030 (indicators).

The initiative, patronized by Ethicando Association in Milan, is sponsored by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, various municipalities in Puglia (Taranto, Galatina, Copertino, Ostuni, Campi Salentina, Gioia del Colle), the Sigismondo Castromediano Museum in Lecce, Confindustria Lecce, Antenna PON Puglia, as well as the Maria Cristina Carlini Foundation in Milan, the Antonietta Viganone ETS Foundation in Milan, the Sangregorio Giancarlo Foundation in Sesto Calende (VA), the Interacademic Center for Actuarial Sciences and Risk Management (CISA) in Florence, the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors (CIFA) Foundation in Geneva (CH), the Rosmini Chair of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano (CH), and ARCA Siracusa.

During the event, the Cinema Promotion Award dedicated to Adriano Pintaldi (honorary president: Pupi Avati; jury president: Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico) will be presented to Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema. This award is organized by the Ethicando Association and the ARCA Siracusa Association, chaired by Stefania Altavilla. The award is created by the goldsmith Stefania Midolo.

Numerous institutional authorities participated: Hon. Paolo Barelli (President of the FI Group in the Chamber of Deputies), Hon. Francesco Battistoni (Secretary of the Presidency Office of the Chamber of Deputies), Senator Roberto Marti (President of the 7th Committee of the Senate of the Republic - Culture and Cultural Heritage, Public Education), Hon. Mauro D'Attis (Member of the 5th Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies), Nicola Claudio (President of the Rai Cinema), Senator Antonio Saccone (President of the Cinecittà Holding), Paolo Perrone (President of the State Printing and Minting Institute).

The panel dedicated to the sustainability of cinema will feature Paolo Del Brocco (CEO of the Rai Cinema, winner of the 2026 Cinema Promotion Award), Pupi Avati (director), Anthony Lamolinara (director; Oscar winner for Spider-Man 2), Guido De Angelis (musician, film producer), Barbara Bouchet (actress), Fabrizio Maria Cortese (director), James Tumminia (director and actor), Franco Nero (actor), Tiziano Sossi (director), Pino Farinotti (film critic), Stefania Altavilla (President of ARCA Siracusa), and Stefania Midolo (goldsmith artist, creator of the Cinema Promotion Award).

Representatives of the sponsoring municipalities will also be present: Pietro Bitetti (Mayor of Taranto), Fabio Vergine (Mayor of Galatina - LE), Giovanni Mastrangelo (Mayor of Gioia del Colle - BA), Angelo Pomes (Mayor of Ostuni - BR), Francesco Maria Trono (Councilor for Tourism of Copertino - LE), and Laura Palmariggi (Deputy Mayor of Campi Salentina - LE).

With regard to institutional figures from the Apulia region, the following will participate: Hon. Georgia Tramacere (Member of the European Parliament, Deputy Mayor of Aradeo - LE), Stefano Minerva (Councilor, Member of Tourism Commissionthe of the Apulia Region), Luigi De Luca (Coordinator of the Brindisi-Lecce-Foggia Library and Museum Complex), Michele Lastilla (Director of the Apulia PON Antenna Network), Valentino Nicolì (President of Confindustria Lecce).

The forum will be enriched by the participation of prominent figures from the worlds of business, the professions, academia and universities, art and culture, as indicated below.

• Anna Lisa Tota (Vice Rector of the Roma Tre University)

• Markus Krienke (Director of the Rosmini Chair of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Lugano)

• Maria Letizia Giorgetti (Professor of Industrial Economics, Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Business Innovation - UNIMI)

• Interacademic Center for Actuarial Sciences and Risk Management (CISA) in Florence: Marcello Galeotti (President of the CISA), Fabio Grasso (Vice President of the Scientific Committee of the CISA), Sara Landini (Scientific Secretary of the CISA), Rosella Castellano (Vice Rector of Unitelma Sapienza - Rome, Member of the CISA Scientific Committee), Emanuele Vannucci (Member of the CISA Scientific Committee).

• Convention of Independent Financial Advisors (CIFA) in Geneva (CH): Jean-Pierre Diserens (Secretary General of the CIFA), Cosima F. Barone (Member of the CIFA Foundation Board), Vania Franceschelli (CIFA Ambassador for the EU, Brussels)

• Antonietta Viganone Foundation: Francesco Fabbiani (President), Domenica D'Elia (Director)

• Sangregorio Giancarlo Foundation: Francesca Marcellini (President), Andrea Mascetti (Director), Lorella Giudici (Archive Manager)

• Giovanni Musso (CEO at the Irem Spa - Syracuse)

• Eugenia Romanelli (Journalist, CEO and founder of ReWorld, director of Rewriters.it)

• Fernando Nazaro (Tourism entrepreneur from Puglia)

SUSTART 2026 benefits from the public relations activities of Antonella Stifani and media promotion by Betting On Italy, Estro Digitale, and Beesness Magazine.

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For information:

Ethicando Association

Email: info@ethicando.it

Website: www.ethicando.it

On Wednesday, November 26, 2025, at the Chamber of Deputies (Palazzo Theodoli-Bianchelli, Giacomo Matteotti Room, Piazza del Parlamento n. 19 – 00186 Rome), the second edition of the SUSTART event (SUSTART 2025) was successfully held, under the artistic and scientific direction of Milanese art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico.

The event consists of an international forum on the sustainability of art and culture and an exhibition of a work of art by a contemporary artist. For the 2025 edition, artist Luca Battini (from the school of Pietro Annigoni, author of excellent paintings permanently exhibited in Italian and US museums and monuments) was selected to exhibit his portrait of chef Heinz Beck.

The forum is an annual discussion platform at the Chamber of Deputies, where local and national institutional representatives and leading figures from the worlds of business, the professions, academia, art, and culture discuss how the promotion of art and culture can be a driving force for regional development in terms of sustainable development, as advocated by the UN's 2030 Agenda and UNESCO's Culture 2030 (indicators).

The initiative, organized by Ethicando Association in Milan, was patronized by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, various municipalities in Salento (Lecce, Brindisi, Galatina, Casarano, Scorrano, Melendugno, Lequile, Monteroni di Lecce), the Sigismondo Castromediano Museum in Lecce, the Maria Cristina Carlini Foundation in Milan, the Antonietta Viganone ETS Foundation in Milan, the Cento Amici del Libro Association in Milan, the Alda Merini Museum Space in Milan, and the ARCA Siracusa.

During the event, the Cinema Promotion Award dedicated to Adriano Pintaldi (honorary president: Pupi Avati; jury president: Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico) was awarded to Laura Delli Colli, president of the Italian Film Journalists who award the Nastri d'Argento. This award is organized by the Ethicando Association and the ARCA Siracusa Association, chaired by Stefania Altavilla. The award was created by the goldsmith Stefania Midolo.

Numerous institutional authorities participated, including: Hon. Paolo Barelli (President of the FI Group in the Chamber of Deputies), Hon. Francesco Battistoni (Secretary of the Presidency Office of the Chamber of Deputies), Hon. Mauro D'Attis (Member of the V Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies), Sen. Antonio Saccone (President of the Cinecittà Holding).

Most of the representatives of the sponsoring municipalities also spoke: Adriana Poli Bortone (Mayor of Lecce), Fabio Vergine (Mayor of Galatina-LE), Mario Pendinelli (Mayor of Scorrano-LE), Ottavio De Nuzzo (Mayor of Casarano-LE), Oronzo Maurizio Cisternino (Mayor of Melendugno-LE), Vincenzo Carlà (Mayor of Lequile-LE), and Ramona Visconti (Councilor for Culture and Tourism of Monteroni di Lecce-LE).

The forum was enriched by the participation of personalities from the worlds of business, the professions, academia and universities, art and culture, including: Anna Lisa Tota (Vice-Rector of Roma Tre University), Marcella Caradonna (President of ODCEC Milan), Roberto Rosso (Full Professor of Photography at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan), Alberto Gambino (UNISTUDIO & Gambino - Rome), Sara Landini (Professor of Economic Law - UNIFI, Member of the Board of Statutory Auditors of GENERALI Spa), Francesco Fabbiani (President of the Antonietta Viganone Foundation - Milan), Alain Salem (President of Cento Amici del Libro - Milan), Francesca Marcellini (President of the Sangregorio Giancarlo Foundation - Milan), Donatella Massimilla (Artistic Director of Spazio Alda Merini - Milan), Giovanni Musso (CEO of Irem Spa - Syracuse), Luca Battini (artist), Heinz Beck (chef), Claudia Peroni (sports journalist at Mediaset), Lucia Sardo (actress), Stefania Altavilla (President of ARCA Syracuse).

SUSTART 2025 benefited from the public relations activities of Antonella Stifani and media promotion by Bettibg On Italy and Estro Digitale. 

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For information:

Ethicando Association

Email: info@ethicando.it 

Website: www.ethicando.it 

Thursday, November 20, 2025, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., at the Braidense National Library in Milan (Via Brera 28 – 20121 Milan), solo exhibition by Antonietta Viganone entitled ANTONIETTA VIGANONE. AN EXHIBITION, A FILM, A BOOK, organized by the Ethicando Association of Milan (www.ethicando.it), in collaboration with the Antonietta Viganone ETS Foundation and the Braidense National Library, with artistic curation by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, will be inaugurated.

Until January 22, 2026, artist's books (mostly published by Franco Sciardelli, the artist's life partner) and about 30 original engravings by Antonietta Viganone will be exhibited.

During the exhibition opening (November 20, 2025), which will take place in the Reading Room/Theology Room of the Braidense National Library, the documentary film entitled “Antonietta Viganone tra vita e arte” (Antonietta Viganone, life and art) will be presented and screened. It was written by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico and Alberto Osella, directed by Alberto Osella, produced by ABOUT A FILM, with cinematography by Filippo Corbetta and editing by Riccardo Banfi.

On the closing day of the exhibition (January 22, 2026), in the Aldo Bassetti Room of the Pinacoteca di Brera, a monograph entitled “Antonietta Viganone”, edited by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico and published by Silvana Editoriale, will be presented.

The initiative, patronized by the Municipality of Milan (p.a.), Municipality 1 of the Municipality of Milan, and the Cento Amici del Libro association, with media support from Betting On Italy and Estro Digitale, has an important impact on the Milanese and ultra-Milanese territory. In fact, the promotion of artistic production by Antonietta Viganone, which focuses on her engraving work, largely produced for the creation of artist's books together with leading figures in Italian literature (including Leonardo Sciascia), almost all published by her life partner Franco Sciardelli, provides an opportunity to explore the contemporary art scene of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in the Brera district of Milan. Franco Sciardelli, publisher and printer, was, in fact, a point of reference for many Milanese artists (and others) in the second half of the last century, who frequented the Brera district for various reasons, including in connection with the activities of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Brera Pinacoteca.

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Event participation link:

https://www.eventbrite.it/e/mostra-personale-antonietta-viganone-una-mostra-un-film-un-libro-tickets-1952712097449?aff=oddtdtcreator

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For information:

Ethicando Association / Fondazione Antonietta Viganone ETS

E-mail: info@ethicando.it / info@fondazioneviganone.com  

Siti web: www.ethicando.it / www.fondazioneviganone.com

On Saturday, October 11, 2025, starting at 5:30 p.m., at the former Conservatory of St. Anna in Lecce (entrance at 10 Via Giuseppe Libertini), solo exhibition by Caterina Romano entitled COLORI DI VITA E ARTE. CATERINA ROMANO (COLORS OF LIFE AND ART. CATERINA ROMANO) will be inaugurated, curated by Milanese art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico.

During the inauguration, the monographic book COLORI DI VITA E ARTE. CATERINA ROMANO (M.E. Di Giandomenico, Milan, Ethicando Editore, 2025) will be presented.

The exhibition, which runs until Sunday, October 19, 2025, is patronized by the Municipality of Lecce and promoted by Betting On Italy and Estro Digitale.

Approximately 30 paintings by the Salento artist are exibited.

The opening will be attended by personalities from the world of institutions, culture and art, including Roberto Giordano Anguilla (Deputy Mayor City of Lecce), Loredana Ruffilli (lecturer and writer) and Lino Baldi (journalist).

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Booking link: 

https://www.eventbrite.it/e/exhibitbook-launch-colori-di-vita-e-arte-caterina-romano-tickets-1719124741379?aff=oddtdtcreator 

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For information:

ETHICANDO association

E-mail: info@ethicando.it

Sito web: www.ethicando.it