Salvatore Pica

Salvatore Pica (7 January 1939 – 25 April 2022) was an Italian art and design entrepreneur. He was one of the first to promote design and contemporary art culture in post-war southern Italy.^[1][2]

Salvatore Pica
Born	(1939-01-07)7 January 1939 Naples, Italy
Died	25 April 2022(2022-04-25) (aged 83) Naples, Italy
Pen name	Pick&Paik
Occupation	Entrepreneur, cultural operator, writer

Ellisse center for design

In 1968, the Centro Ellisse opened in Naples,^[3] a city with many antiquarian furniture shops and restorers. Pica proposed selling modern Italian-designed products from manufacturers like Driade,^[4] Alessi and Kartell, and displaying them in a house-like setting. Following this innovative showroom style, the shop changed to sell artworks by contemporary Neapolitan artists^[5] and ones from his friend Lucio Amelio's Modern Art Agency.

Work as cultural operator

'Centro Ellisse' was a sponsoring partner of Naples' Academy of Fine Art, producing competitions and exhibitions for art students.^[6] Ellisse published books on design, art, theatre, and anthropology under the editorial project "Quaderni Ellisse". Its authors included Giulio Baffi,^[7] Stefano De Stefano, and photographers including Fabio Donato.^[8]

At the Pica Gallery, Pica worked as curator and gallerist, supporting young artists amongst whom were Lino Fiorito, Gennaro Castellano, Adriana De Manes, Matteo Attruia,^[9] and Pierre-Yves Le Duc.^[10] He also helped re-discover artists he had promoted in the past including Renato Barisani and Sergio Fermariello.^[11]

Together with Lucio Rufolo, Pica was the formal founder of "Accademia della catastrofe",^[12] a situationist movement which involved Neapolitan writers.

Pica wrote about anthropology in an autobiographical and ethnographical style.^[12] He wrote about metropolitan anthropology, women, and Neapolitans in books published by houses including Dante & Descartes and Colonnese.^[12]

Pica died in Naples on 25 April 2022, after contracting COVID-19.^[13]

Bibliography

• La notte è dura ma non ci fa paura (1990, Colonnese)^[11]
• La donna napoletana (1991, Colonnese)^[12]
• Il Maschio Napoletano (1996, Dante & Descartes)^[11]
• Tipi da baretto (1997, Dante & Descartes)^[12]
• Vissi d'Arte: Quarant’anni sui marciapiedi dell’arte 1968–2008 (2008, Profeta/Imprint)^[12]
• La Rabbia Esaudita (2012, Enzo Albano)^[11]
• I napoletani (2014, Enzo Albano)^[11][12]