The Grillo Museum was born. Art chambers in Arena Po (PV) in the largest Maaapo museum. An ancient home in a “Borgo d’Arte” on the Great River Po. – Carlo Franza’s blog

Arena Po is a small town in the province of Pavia, lapped by the Po river and for some time it has become a “Borgor art affiliated with the Brera Academy “. To revitalize this remote corner of the Po Valley was the artist Gaetano Grillo who from Milan where he resided has moved permanently to this territory which is the Oltrepò Pavese, with the best known as a place of production of famous wines.

The artist went to think of a wide -ranging project, consistent with his current poetics, a cycle of thought and works entitled “Culture returns nature”.

In 2015 he first bought an ancient house that renovated as a second home, then bought an adjacent building and finally an entire farmhouse that was collapsing by saving these properties from a natural and progressive decline.

Within a few years, Grillo founded a cultural association, has brought large and prestigious works of art to the country – often monumental – of its illustrious colleagues up to establishing with the Municipality, and thanks to a wide view of administration to administer an enlightened mayor such as Alessandro Belforti, A real museum called Maaapo, Art Museum Ambiento Arena Po, chaired by the illustrious Livia Pomodoro. Today the Maaapo already has a physical location, 24 large works scattered in the ancient village in addition to those who are constituting the collection at the headquarters; Works by artists such as Galliani, Maraniello, Notargiacomo, Asdrubali, Ceccobelli, Cascella, Legnaghi, Cordero, Cella, Ievolella, Salvatore, Spoldi, Renzogallo etc. But also works by artists of the twentieth century such as Alik Cavaliere and Luciano Minguzzi.

Arena Po today is imposing itself as one of the new alternative art centers at national level and at the same time close to large cities. Just forty -five kilometers from Milan, thirty from Piacenza and winds from Pavia today constitutes a tourist destination for all those who seek cultural stimuli and beauty combined with the pleasures of landscape and food and wine. The artist is creating a museum in the museum inside the village, that is to say a sort of “total work” that includes his study, the archive, the laboratory, an area for outdoor shows etc. In the meantime, with the precious collaboration of his wife Francesca Arneri (who worked in the field of fashion) has completed the renovation of a medieval residence of about four hundred square meters setting it back in its specific museum with over fifty works between paintings, sculptures, objects and ceramics, furnishing it with unpublished taste and setting up Two large suite in which you can stay. The guest is thus located at the center of a location where everything expresses and lets the make of an artist like Gaetano Grillo read, discovering in the various corners of the structure a series of secret details, with even pictorial messages in the drawers.

The pleasantness of the large spaces with chestnut ceilings, canopy beds, also meet places such as the attic with the ceramic show room, the panoramic solarium terrace overlooking the great river, the facade east frescoed by the author and then exhibition rooms With boards where the painter’s publications are collected.

Guests can request the artist a guided tour of the Maaapo, of which Grillo himself is founder and director, can visit his study, view the great “grillic alphabet”, the monumental work that stands out in the great Museum-EX Cascina e If desired, they can also have an experience of artistic ceramic under his guide in his laboratory. To the guests of the structure Francesca Arneri also reserves the possibility of booking aperitifs and/or dinners in the large room with fireplace and the artist’s art collection or in the garden or on the beautiful terrace overlooking the artificial lake where herons nidify.

This is a new way of understanding tourism -after many that many flee from the city especially on weekends -in harmony with the environment, culture and good ways of living and above all having time to meet interesting people and exchange the own ideas.

An all -round project that sees art meeting life. A way to find an authentic dimension for the artist Gaetano Grillo and his wife Francesca, a unique possibility for sensitive and curious guests who love to combine the pleasure of art and experiences, in contact with nature.

A rare example, leader in Italy, to be lived entirely, to see how art can also become a business and develop culture through the receptivity of excellence.

Carlo Franza