The location? The most prestigious baroque palaces

The event will be staged in the most beautiful baroque palaces of the city - Antica Cancelleria, Palazzo Cosentini, Palazzo La Rocca and the former San Vincenzo Ferreri Church - whose sumptuous spaces will host works of design, art, fashion and photography inspired by the theme of Neo-Baroque. The projects conceived by the students of the Academies of Brera, Florence, Abadir of Catania and of the Faculty of Architecture of Palermo will be presented.

A dialogue between project culture and business culture

The festival aims to make the culture of the project dialogue with that of business, in the context of the Baroque scenographies of the city of Ragusa. The Festival intends to act as a permanent observatory on the expressions of "neo-baroque design", understood as a contemporary interpretation of that baroque or rather late baroque aesthetic, which has happily marked the history of the territory ibleo. The Neo-Baroque can in fact be understood as a formal constant common to some cultural trends of our time.

The creative dialectic between territorial and international realities

Local knowledge and entrepreneurship are involved in a creative dialectic, together with designers, artists and fashion stylists, with the participation of some protagonists of the design world and with the contribution of internationally established companies.

Protagonists: meetings, presentations and installations

Not only design, but also new and interesting projects in fashion, art and photography. The 2022 program of the festival in fact includes a series of stimulating meetings between designers, protagonists of the world of design (artists, fashion stylists, students) and leading figures of the design sector Gilda Bojardi, Matteo Cibic, Cristina Morozzi and Davide Rampello.

Conferences and insights

To take turns on the scene, moderate and enrich the meetings this year will be exceptional protagonists, including Gilda Bojardi, editor of Interni, creator of the FuoriSalone and ambassador of Italian design in the world. During her speech, scheduled for Saturday 17 September at 7 pm in the evocative setting of the Iblei Gardens, she will illustrate a selection of Neo-Baroque style set-ups present at the University of Milan on the occasion of the Interni Design Re-Generation exhibition-event at the recent Design Week.

Journalist and critic of contemporary design, Cristina Morozzi, in the sumptuous setting of Palazzo La Rocca, will present her book Terrific Design, full of neo-baroque objects, while Davide Rampello, professor and art director, will tell his original and in-depth interpretation of neo-baroque aesthetics.

A surprising path

In addition to a program of meetings and specialist insights for professionals, the festival stages site-specific art installations and exhibits the results of the research work of academies and universities , unfolding in different and prestigious locations, in an amazing and surprising journey through the spaces of the city of Ragusa. 

Site specific installations: from students to companies

Palazzo Cosentini, a monument recognized by Unesco, will host on the ground floor the installations designed by the students of the Brera and Florence Academies, the Abadir Academy of Catania and the ISIA of Faenza. Projects born from thematic workshops related to a contemporary reinterpretation of the Baroque in the field of photography, graphics, fashion and product design.

The main floor will be set up with sofas, cabinets, rugs, objects, accessories, ceramics, lights and decorations interpreted in a neo-baroque key, such as the cement tiles and the marble tables and mirrors designed by Roberto Semprini for Sansone Pavimenti and Kimano Design. Migliorino Design will instead exhibit Neobaroque, a capsule of products of great scenographic effect, also signed by Semprini.

Among the young designs most appreciated for his ironic, unmistakable, surprising and therefore neo-baroque style, Matteo Cibic will present White Donkey, a surrealist-style ceramic sculpture with a hybrid shape, half anthropomorphic and half zoomorphic inside a container covered with a his wallpaper design by Texturae.

The rooms of the elegant Palazzo La Rocca will host the works of the sisters Marella and Gabriella Ferrera, stylists and jewelry designers. The colors, scents and suggestions of their enchanting land, Sicily, will represent the common thread of their creations.

The entrance to the ancient Palazzo della Cancelleria will be set up with iconic pieces from the Italamp catalog, such as the ethereal Pulsa Spira chandelier designed by Danilo De Rossi and made of blown artistic glass and two Grand Collier floor lamps, designed by Marc Sadler, in blown glass. white.

Made in Italy lies and sweetness is the title of the installation by the artist / designer Edoardo Malagigi inside Palazzo Nicastro. The hall and the manger of the building will welcome, with a surprise effect, two symbols of Made in Italy: a Pinocchio and the Tatlin sofa by Edra in Modica chocolate.

Patronage and program

The design festival has the patronage of local authorities and institutions authoritative such as ADI, the Brera Academy, the Florence Academy and the Order of Architects. The conferences and visits to exhibitions issue professional training credits to architects and designers registered in their respective registers, visits to the installations are free and remain open to the public for one month.

The complete program at this link.