Massimo Giorgetti Curates Exhibition on Italian Riviera’s Summer Vibes

SUMMERTIME ART: Massimo Giorgetti is not ready to wave “ciao ciao” to summer just yet.

After centering the sea and the Mediterranean in his brand’s coed show celebrating its 15th anniversary in June, the MSGM founder and creative director continues to pay homage to the Italian Riviera and his own roots with an artistic project close to home.

The designer was invited to curate an exhibition in Riccione, a short drive from his sunny seaside hometown of Rimini, located in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. This project is part of the 27th edition of the Riccione TTV Festival, a biannual event dedicated to theater, video, and artistic experimentation.

The exhibition, which opened on Friday and runs through Sept. 15, is titled “Anemoia,” drawing from the Greek word describing nostalgia for a time or place one has never known.

Seeking to evoke this sentiment among the audience, Giorgetti curated works by six artists that trace the carefree lifestyle of the Riviera over the years and the hedonistic heyday of Riccione. The 55 works on display at Villa Franceschi — an Art Nouveau villa housing the local Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea gallery — include photographs by Luigi Ghirri, Claude Nori, Massimo Vitali, and Fulvia Farassino, as well as images by Yuri Ancarani and writings by Italian author Isabella Santacroce.

Giorgetti revealed that the artists were chosen “out of passion, admiration, and friendship,” as each one is connected not only to the exhibition’s theme but also to his personal or professional history, lending his curatorial effort an added layer of authenticity.

“This exhibition represents a full-circle moment for me: I arrived in Riccione in 1995, and a Saturday in July marked my first visit to Cocoricò,” Giorgetti reminisced about the iconic local nightclub that gained massive popularity after opening in the late ‘80s. “Now, I find myself curating an exhibition with artists who celebrated that golden era, which I unintentionally wove into MSGM.”

Giorgetti has always infused the vibrant local scene and youthful energy of his surroundings into his collections, balancing them with his affection for Milan, his adopted city. Over the years, he has repeatedly demonstrated this passion for the arts.

In 2019, the designer launched the Ordet experimental cultural hub, showcasing artists ranging from Iva Lulashi to Benni Bosetto. The latter also featured in the casting of the MSGM pre-fall 2024 look book, emblematic of a new wave of Milan-based creatives. Among the showcased artists, Giorgia Garzilli, whose work appeared at the Miart Fair, has also enjoyed Giorgetti’s sponsorship and support in the past.