Awaiting Venice Biennale 2026: Nicoletta Fiorucci
Nicolette Fiorucci
Mara Sartore: Hello, Nicoletta. Thank you for welcoming me into this beautiful home. We are here to talk about you and your passion for contemporary art. I would like to begin by asking how you started collecting art: when did this passion enter your life, and how did you become a collector?
Nicoletta Fiorucci: My passion for contemporary art has deep roots. I initially studied the Old Masters and collected ancient drawings; I was particularly fascinated by the freedom expressed by past masters through this medium. While studying historical art, I came to realise that the history of art advances through revolutions and ruptures. By the time I approached contemporary art, I was already aware of artists’ visionary capacity. Connecting with contemporary expressiveness was a long process of learning and introspection.
MS: Was there a decisive encounter that led you towards contemporary art? Do you remember it?
NF: Yes. Giuliano Briganti’s studio was always frequented by major artists such as Giulio Paolini, Jannis Kounellis, Luigi Ontani, Carla Accardi, Eliseo Mattiacci, and Nunzio di Stefano. His wife, Luisa Laureati, was a contemporary art gallerist. Together with Luciano Pistoi, they had initiated the La Volpaia project in Tuscany. I was always with them. It was thanks to Giulio Paolini that my reluctance towards contemporary art collapsed. His works pose philosophical questions – who is the observer?, what is the artwork?, what lies behind the artwork? – articulated through a neoclassical formal language made up of sculptures, plaster casts and elegant silhouettes, all drawing on references from art history. This knowledge allowed me to open up gradually. The real turning point came when I was working in contemporary fashion at AltaRoma. Through the close relationship between art and fashion, and to the support of Milovan Farronato – who was introduced to me by Maria Luisa Frisa, then fashion consultant for AltaRoma – I started collecting. Guided by his expertise, I started to break the ice, and from there I entrusted myself entirely to my intuition and my personal history, eventually coming to appreciate emerging art.
MS: With Milovan Farronato there has been a long history of collaboration, including a very experimental event such as “Volcano Extravaganza”. Is that right?
NF: Yes, for ten years. It was an extraordinary experience for me. I collect experiences: working so closely with the creative process, with artists, their hesitations, their intuitions, their moments of revelation, is something that shapes you like nothing else. Of course, reading is important, but witnessing things as they happen and take form is an extraordinary cultural and personal opportunity for growth.
MS: In 2021 you founded the Fiorucci Foundation, following the Fiorucci Art Trust in 2010. How did this transition come about?
NF: The Fiorucci Art Trust was created together with Milovan Farronato, and I did not feel able to continue a shared project without him. During the years of the Trust, I worked according to two parallel logics in promoting and supporting events. On the one hand, through the Fiorucci Art Trust, we produced 90 per cent of the projects together with Milovan. On the other, I supported many initiatives under my own name, non-profit spaces, artists’ projects and publications. I nurtured my own curiosities in areas where Milovan was not curating or selecting, cultivating a different type of experience.
When Covid arrived and performances were no longer viable, and parts of Milovan’s programmes could not be realised, I took a period of reflection, as many of us did. During the pandemic, I decided to support only museums, non-profit spaces and artists’ projects. I no longer wanted to produce or invest my resources in something of my own. This attitude lasted for several years, until moving to Venice, when the temptation to have a space and to return to producing culture, and to play a more active role, became strong. And here we are: the Fiorucci Foundation was born from the amplification of my independent projects.
MS: And this leads to the key question: why Venice? Is it the city you hold closest to your heart?
NF: Because I have always dreamed of living in Venice, ever since I was a child. I dreamed of bringing my son here and raising him in this beauty, free from danger, but it was not possible, as his father lived in Rome. Later, when returning from England, there was only one possible place for me in Italy: Venice. It is the city that I hold closest to my heart, as I believe many others who choose to come here from abroad or from other cities do. It is a non-city, a dream city.
MS: So you have been living in your Venetian home since 2023?
NF: Yes.
MS: The Foundation also stems from the desire to have your own space in the city where you live. Over these nearly five years in Venice, with the Foundation opening last year, I imagine the path towards acquiring the palazzo was long and complex. What was that process like?
NF: It was quite lengthy, as part of the space belonged to the state and part to a private owner. This resulted in various bureaucratic complexities. In the end everything was resolved positively, but the procedures were numerous.
MS: And does the choice of location also have a particular story? Today the Fiorucci Foundation is here in Venice, near Palazzetto Tito, one of the two venues of the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, a prestigious Venetian institution and one of the earliest examples of patronage, which established the first artist residencies, perhaps even inventing the concept.
NF: Exactly. Over the years I have supported many initiatives by Bevilacqua La Masa: Enrico David’s first exhibition, curated by Angela Vettese and Milovan Farronato, as well as exhibitions by Lucy McKenzie and Peter Doig, for example. I am therefore very attached to this place.
Moreover, for ten years I rented a house in this neighbourhood, which I knew well and to which I am deeply attached, even to the boat that sells vegetables. When I was looking for a home, I was looking here. Instead of a house, I found this space. It was a kind of serendipity.
MS: I have here the catalogue of the exhibition by Tolia Astakhishvili (b. 1974, Tbilisi), the artist who inaugurated the Fiorucci Foundation in Venice.
NF: Yes, it is an art book, an artist’s book. It does not document the exhibition; Tolia herself created a series of stages specifically for the book. It was printed here in Venice, with graphic design by Lorenzo Mason, who is Venetian. It is, in every sense, a Venetian production.
MS: One of the aspects that struck me most about Tolia Astakhishvili’s exhibition was the decision to keep the palazzo exactly as it was, without any structural intervention, remaining aligned with the artist’s practice. Tolia managed to enter the space lightly, adding segments that completed it. Looking ahead to the next Biennale, how will the space be transformed?
NF: Thank you for this question; it is crucial to understanding both the exhibition and Tolia’s work. I purchased the space in a raw, unfinished state. At that time, Hans Ulrich Obrist was interested in following projects with Tolia, and I proposed this space to him. Tolia works with abandoned spaces; for her, it was a ready-made. It was a series of circumstances: in mid-January 2025, only Tolia could have begun working in a space without electricity, water, internet or heating. She seized the opportunity to express herself within the space and accepted the challenge. It was a physical confrontation between her and the building, and the outcome was deeply compelling.
MS: Tolia truly embodied the space; her presence was strongly felt, despite the lightness of her interventions. By preserving certain elements, she highlighted them in a remarkable way. And in May 2026, what should we expect to see at the Foundation?
NF: You should expect a similar approach. We have removed all traces of Tolia’s intervention, attempting to return the space to a neutral state, so that nothing of what came before is perceptible. The next artist, Lydia Ourahmane, will once again work within a raw space. Lydia is an artist I have worked with over the years: she took part in “Volcano Extravaganza” and in a residency in London at our space, where she created a site-specific work. Over time I have acquired many of her works, but above all I supported her exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery, curated by Polly Staple, which played a key role in launching her career. Her exhibition in Venice will open on 4 May. I am very curious, very happy, and deeply grateful to Lydia for accepting such a challenge.
MS: I would also like to ask how the Foundation relates to the city: to other foundations, colleagues, collector friends and the Biennale. You often speak about returning to London because many of your friends are there, but I imagine Venice has also become a place where you feel at home. Now that the Foundation is a structured reality, dialogue with the city becomes even more essential. How do you experience this? How do you perceive Venice from this perspective?
NF: I have felt extremely comfortable here, because Venice is a very informal city, despite the major events, the palazzi and the masked balls. At its core, encounters are very spontaneous, and that is precisely what I love most. I have a direct relationship with the Biennale: this year I am sponsoring Chiara Camoni, the French Pavilion and the German Pavilion. I am always ready to support the Biennale because, as an Italian, it does not matter where you live: the Biennale is an Italian excellence. And I want to support both the Italian Pavilion and the Biennale itself.
MS: And how does the Venetian scene appear to you today? How do you perceive its evolution? Over these five years, have you sensed changes? Does it feel like a city in progress, or rather a stable one? And coming from a constantly evolving city like London, how would you position it?
NF: I see a continuous flow of arrivals: new foundations, new people choosing to live here, individuals acquiring multiple properties. Those who come to live in Venice have a profound passion for creativity, art, craftsmanship and beauty. I believe Venice is transforming into a diffuse laboratory for all forms of artistic expression.
