Protagonist of the futurist movement and, thanks to the design of the immortal Campari bottle, also of design history, Fortunato Depero in the 1930s designed a bar in Bolzano. Closed for over forty years, today it lives again thanks to the exhibition "Depero Space to Space. The creation of memory" set up in the Bagatti Valsecchi house museum in collaboration with Mart, the museum of modern and contemporary art of Trento and Rovereto.
Futurist bar designed by Depero reopens — but only for a limited time
After 40 years, Fortunato Depero’s Futurist bar comes back to life at Milan’s Bagatti Valsecchi House Museum. A rich program of events will bring it to life.
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- Nicola Aprile
- 26 January 2026
Seven panels installed along the wooden paneling were Depero's signature at ViBiBar (Vino Birra Bar). Servilio Cavazzani, who had opened the place in 1937, asked the artist a year later to make him a large tapestry. Instead, after an inspection, the idea for the panels was born: Depero made Allegory of Beer and Wine and The Grape Cluster and drew on his earlier designs for the other five: Composition with a Woman's Head and Paddles, Water Bearer and Flower Vase, Palms and Fish, which was inspired by the city of Ragusa, and The Rooster and Playing Cards, which drew on the literary trend of the Strapaese.
Today, those cloth inlays close the exhibition that brings the museum's permanent works into dialogue with those of the futurist artist and will enliven the house by reviving the atmosphere of the ViBiBar through five evenings, five aperitifs that will transform it into an elegant futurist bar, amid soft lighting, live jazz music and a selection of wines.
The exhibition hosts more than forty works ranging from the 1930s to the 1950s, from the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero and the Mart, and is curated by Nicoletta Boschiero and Antonio D'Amico, housed by the specially designed installation by the a-fact architecture factory. The exhibition path celebrates the multifaceted nature of the Trentino artist, who was also active as a designer, interior decorator and set designer, in a work that constantly confronts the theme of setting up and constructing space.
Opening image: Giovanni Sanna (a-fact), ViBi Bar room setup at Museo Bagatti Valsecchi