A legacy can take many forms; it can come as wisdom, grace or passion. It can appear, of course, as a tangible asset. Sometimes the two merge and the thing bequeathed is so expressive of the giver’s personality or outlook on life that it achieves a value no assessor can define. And when that gift is extended out into the world, when it is not privately enjoyed but shared, its value rises higher still.
When New York-based collector and fashion industry PR specialist Edoardo Monti inherited a 12th-century palazzo in the northern Italian town of Brescia, he didn’t drop everything for la dolce vita. He remained moored in Manhattan as he devised a plan to transform the stately residence into a haven for artists. As his vision grew to encompass more of his time and imagination, he returned to his native Italy to better administer this cultural project and oversee necessary renovations.
“At first, we did small things in order to accommodate the artists. Then over the past few years, we have been going through the complete renovation of five bathrooms, the kitchen, exhibition rooms, the bedrooms and our archive,” shares Monti, who was raised nearby in Bergamo. “This has given a beautiful new look to the palazzo, while still maintaining its ancient vibe.”
When Monti was 14, his grandfather gave him a tapestry created by Italian futurist Fortunato Depero, for whom textiles were a primary medium. “My grandfather understood the value of passing something on to the next generation before he was gone so that he could teach about caring for something of value while taking joy in the pleasure that gift brought,” explains Monti. “Receiving a piece and embracing the responsibility to look after it for the years to come was definitely a turning point in my life and made me appreciate art in a way that I didn’t before.”
Ever since, Monti has been drawn to art and artists. He studied at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts in London and has long counted creatives among his friends. He is drawn especially to figurative painting, an attraction he attributes in part to the juggernaut of social media. “It’s natural to be drawn to figurative images when we are bombarded by thousands of photographs and videos every day,” notes Monti, who identifies iconic New York gallery owner Leo Castelli as an inspiration. “Our eyes are drawn to pick out any human element in whatever we see, so I have an automatic response to figurative pictures.”
To date, Palazzo Monti has provided residencies to over 200 artists from 50 countries, from painters and poets to performance artists and architects. A board, with members in New York, London, Paris and Seoul, helps Monti review the many applications that come his way. “Each and every month I spend with a new set of artists is a gift,” admits Monti, who describes his undertaking as an effort to allow artists to “showcase the best of their practice or to come up with new experiments, which sometimes are great and other times don’t work out yet are still part of the important process of constant evolution.”
Like any home that has endured for centuries, the Palazzo Monti has seen its share of owners and has been put to purposes for which it was never intended. Built by the noble Maggi family, it later served as a hospital. So perhaps it is only fitting that after passing through several families since the 18th century, it has found a new life under Monti’s stewardship. For all the substantial formality of its central staircase and the antique quality of its myth-inspired frescoes, this grand pile from the past meets the present perfectly. “You have neoclassical architecture and all the things you normally find in an old palazzo – high ceilings, large windows, spacious rooms – and each month, artists shape their studios in a different way and bring along their very special energy, which is directly reflected onto the entire house,” observes Monti. “It’s magical.”
Photography by Helenio Barbetta & Chiara Dal Canto.
For more like this Palazzo, be sure to check out this 17-century apartment in Mantua.
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