Tommaso Setari, a prominent Italian art collector and philanthropist, has died at the age of 76 after a long hospitalization in Brussels. Together with his wife Giuliana Carusi, he built one of the world's most significant contemporary art collections from the late 1970s onward, spanning artists from Sol LeWitt to Gerhard Richter. In 2001, the couple founded the Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art to support young artists and curators through residency programs in New York and Paris, later expanding into awards, symposia, and exhibitions. Setari's funeral was held on June 4 at the Church of Saint-Servais in Brussels.
Setari's death marks the loss of a key figure in contemporary art patronage, whose collection and foundation fostered direct relationships with artists and nurtured emerging talent across Europe and the United States. The couple's legacy is preserved in part by the Castello di Rivoli museum, which houses the Dena Foundation archives, and their collection has been celebrated in major exhibitions worldwide. Their model of combining collecting with active philanthropic support for young artists continues to influence the art world's ecosystem of patronage and institutional collaboration.