Our story

Passionate Collectors: The Story Behind U-Art-P

In the art world, tales abound of collectors and enthusiasts discovering their passion through chance encounters, reading, or travel. This is also true for the founders of the cultural association U-Art-P: Cristiano Cavallo, Roberta Ilberti, Oliviero Falconi, Simona Leidi, and Manuela Parrino. Each of them followed different paths but was united by a shared passion that led them to merge their stories and share a project.

Oliviero Falconi and Simona Leidi: The Power of Collaboration

Oliviero Falconi, a collector for over twenty years, recounts meeting Cristiano and Roberta at a fair in Copenhagen, where they were all interested in the same photograph by Elina Brotherus. “We bought it before them, and Cristiano was disappointed, but two months later, he called me to say the last edition had been purchased by the Pompidou Museum in Paris.” This shared interest laid the foundation for a friendship that still endures. Initially, only Oliviero harbored a strong passion for art, as he had been an artist in his youth. Over time, Simona began to share this passion, and “the collection became a joint endeavor.” For them, art is a personal pleasure, an intellectual stimulus, a way to connect with like-minded individuals and to anticipate social changes and trends. “In this context, especially in recent years, we’ve realized the difficulties that young artists face in getting recognized, so we try to help those we believe are worthy.” Oliviero and Simona launched the U-Art-P project in the Bergamo spaces where their collection is housed.

Cristiano Cavallo and Roberta Ilberti: Art as a Mirror of History

Cristiano Cavallo is an example of how a technical education can find creative freedom in art. Raised in Salento with a technical background, he continued studying engineering but began exploring literature and philosophy during his university years in Turin. He discovered how art could act as a mirror of history and social evolution. “I realized that artists often anticipated what would happen or at least reflected their time and anxieties in their work.” The fascinating accounts by Giulio Argan on 20th-century art history gave him the courage to start exploring museums, galleries, and fairs. In 2007, driven by his growing passion, Cristiano bought his first piece of art by Ugo Nespolo. Since then, with Roberta by his side, the journey of discovery and collecting has been ongoing. She follows him enthusiastically, recognizing that this passion brings them closer as a couple and allows them to discover places, situations, and, above all, fascinating and wonderful people.

Manuela Parrino: A Passion Traveling the World

Manuela Parrino’s story as a collector began in the late 1990s in New York, where she was captivated by photography through her work as a reportage journalist. Her first purchase was a work by Richard Prince at Greenberg Gallery in SoHo. From New York, she moved to Jerusalem, where she worked with war photographers. Then, she went to Beijing in 2004, where she was immersed in the emerging contemporary Chinese art scene, meeting masters and young artists who guided her into a previously unknown world. From China, she moved to Brazil, continuing to nurture her passion while always favoring artists’ studios over fairs. Knowing the story behind each work is essential for Manuela, and only about ten pieces in her collection were acquired without personally knowing the artist. Her shared passion for ultra-contemporary Brazilian artists led her to meet Oliviero, Simona, Cristiano, and Roberta, who, after 23 years, allowed her to reconnect with Italy.

U-Art-P: A Shared Dream

The cultural association U-Art-P was born from the shared desire to give voice to our passion. Our mission is to provide a platform where collectors and artists can meet and share stories and inspirations. Through ongoing dialogue and mutual support, we hope to encourage a new generation of collectors and artists who, like us, see art as a means of expression, exchange, and transformation.