Tapestries with Michele Cesaratto and Fondazione Le Costantine for Galleria Acappella at Artissima 2026
For Michele Cesaratto’s “Mi rifugio nel gang”, presented by Galleria Acappella at Artissima 2026, Italy’s most closely followed contemporary art fair, we developed a new series of tapestries with Fondazione Le Costantine. The collaboration with Michele and Corrado of Galleria Acappella brings the artist’s imagery into handwoven textiles.
Uccellaccio morto, 35 × 48 cm, 2026
“Cesaratto is something of a medievalist who listens to trap, conscious of the importance of techniques passed down through generations while celebrating his own gang.”
Nineteenth-century looms interpret Michele’s drawings, first composed in pencil and then in pixels. Through the ancient technique of fiocco leccese, his painting practice finds itself surprisingly at ease with thread.
The series comprises five works in cotton and wool: Uccellaccio morto, Il ragnetto di Denny, Bebè Strafatto, The motherfucking queen and Amici Cucciolotti. Each measures 35 × 48 cm and was made in 2026.
Bebè Strafatto, 35 × 48 cm, 2026
“Through the folk knowledge of those who live alongside them, the animals tell stories of tenderness and metamorphosis: the barn owls with their young, the little dead bird with silk butterflies. All, all noble, all with a kind of unconscious mysticism that binds them to time.”
Michele Cesaratto lives and works between Fagagna and Spilimbergo. He studied painting at the Academies of Fine Arts in Florence and Venice, two cities whose artistic histories continue to inform his practice.
Based in Casamassella, in Salento, southern Italy, Fondazione Le Costantine continues a history in which weaving and embroidery became tools for education, work and independence for local women. Its workshop preserves and passes on this textile knowledge through practice and teaching. Handweaving remains at the heart of its activities, and it is with the knowledge and work of its weavers that we developed the tapestries for Michele.
HANDWOVEN TEXTILES
Fondazione Le Costantine with Chiarastella Cattana
