Hi there, Edoardo here, a curator and collector from Bergamo and now living in Brescia, north Italy.

I don’t often get the chance to write an open letter, and rather than focusing on self-appraising, I want to take this opportunity to share some productive, critical thoughts.

First, a very brief introduction to give some context. You are going through some beautiful shots by Stefano Paussa of Palazzo Monti and Fertile. Palazzo Monti is an art residency and cultural centre I founded in March 2017, with the support of my family and many, many friends. Fertile is a new project space we launched on the spring equinox of 2025, a 300 sqm much-needed expansion to welcome more artists in residence, increase the exhibition space and offer rooms for design, enology and food research. I am blessed to have been able to live and breathe art for the past years, and to feel strong enough to launch other projects, alongside Luca Cremona and Sole Castelbarco as co-founders. Any other relevant information can be found online, no need to repeat what has been written before and fluff it up.

As mentioned in the intro, I’d like to focus on two rather existential topics, for those of us lucky enough to work in the creative fields: talent, and critical thinking. I’ll start from the latter.

In eight years of operations, I have not once read a negative article about our projects or shows. Can you believe it? Not. Once. I understand the difficult task of navigating a small world made of connections and invites and previews and free dinners, the fear of burning bridges and whatnot. But hey, where has the intellectual honesty gone? My fear is that, partly because of the crisis that the editorial world has faced over the past 20 years, real, critical journalism in the Italian art world system has basically perished, giving way to underpaid or free writers that can only afford to copy and paste Word document press releases. Journalism seems to mainly focus on positive, or neutral reviews. How can anyone improve? How do I know how to get better? Nobody is perfect, I am not perfect, yet it will be increasingly hard, as years pass by along many pats on the shoulder, to drastically change direction or fix things on the way.

Now, onto talent. I have had the pleasure to work with incredible people, each with their own unique talents. But hey, when you encounter real Talent with capital T, it’s a game changer. Or rather, should be in a normal country. I am not going to name names – this letter is not about praising or attacking individuals, but rather the system. A system, in Italy, that makes it challenging to retain talents, help them grow, stick around for a few years in order to get better, day-by-day, together. A system where European values are applied to select topics only, with a vast majority of counter-competitive rules that discourage growth, sales, and donations. Don’t get me wrong, fundamentally I am pro Europe, but how can one not compare the much better system that is adopted by our transalpine cousins in France? 5.5 per cent there vs 22 per cent VAT in Italy, for the exact same product or service; actually deductible donations to cultural projects; massive budgets to support artists and institutions nationally and internationally; embassies that function as megaphones for their own creative citizens. All of this, which translates in daily struggles to stay afloat while fighting the wrong equations that sees art = volunteering and no-profit = no-cost, simply does not allow for talents to stick around. Too often talents slip away, caught by the bigger fish in the pond. Too great is the price to pay for retaining talent above the ridicule and common three-year period. This letter won’t change anything, I am well aware, but I wanted to expose myself and my thoughts.

I want to thank my family, who has been supportive since day zero, especially my mother Luisa who has been allowing us to take full control of the family palazzo for creative use, my father Roberto and brother Federico for the support; to whoever has been part of our team, in particular Luca and Sole, with whom we just embarked on a new adventure; to our supporters, who have been key columns over the past years; to the artists that have joined us
as residents; to the artisans that have turned a sketch into reality; to the city of Brescia, for being a wonderful host; to the photographers, graphic designers, technicians, friends and suppliers that have helped us shape and document our evolving identity, too many to name; to every independent cultural institution, with whom we share the survival struggle; to C41 for allowing me to write this honest open letter.

The reality is that without any of the stakeholders mentioned above, this letter wouldn’t exist, nor would the photos in this feature or the support provided to hundreds of artists over the past years.

Come visit us, you won’t regret it.