Si chiama Casabianca il nuovo spazio per l’arte da visitare a Como
A new art space called Casabianca has opened in Como, Italy, housed in a 1930s building designed by Piero Ponci. The project is spearheaded by hoteliers Paolo and Antonella De Santis, who have transformed the former luxury villa and bank into a domestic-style exhibition venue for their contemporary art collection. The space features works by artists such as Giulio Paolini, Stefano Arienti, Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Marina Abramovic, and Joseph Kosuth, with no labels or didactics to preserve the feel of a private home.
Casabianca matters because it represents a shift from hospitality to patronage by one of Italy's most legendary hotel families, offering a rare, intimate encounter with a major private collection in a setting that mimics a bourgeois home. By avoiding the museum model and emphasizing guided, unmediated visits, the De Santis family creates a new type of cultural venue that prioritizes personal experience over institutional display, potentially inspiring other collectors to open their homes to the public.