From the Foreign Legion to Cortona: Aldo Gallorini’s Artistic Journey

From 18 June to 2 July 2026, Cortona pays tribute to Aldo Gallorini (1926–2004), a Cortona-born painter and sculptor, with the anthological exhibition “Aldo Gallorini: Legionnaire, Painter, Cortonese (1926–2026)”, hosted in the exhibition space of Palazzo Ferretti, at Via Nazionale 45.

Curated by Rita Adreani, the exhibition presents around 150 works, including paintings, sculptures and drawings, retracing the different phases of Gallorini’s artistic production: from his Cubist period to Tuscan rustic themes, from works inspired by the Etruscan world to Surrealism, and finally the graphic cycle signed “Nessuno”.

Gallorini’s life was intense and far from ordinary. After serving in the French Foreign Legion, between Algeria and Indochina, he developed his interest in painting during his years abroad, before returning permanently to Italy in 1958. His work preserves traces of this adventurous and deeply personal journey.

The exhibition will also include Gallorini’s 1988 copy of Pablo Picasso’s Seated Woman in a Garden. The event is accompanied by a monographic volume featuring critical essays and unpublished material dedicated to the artist’s life and work.

The opening ceremony will take place on Thursday, 18 June at 5:30 p.m. A second event, dedicated to the relationship between Gallorini and the Etruscan world, will be held on 24 June at 5:30 p.m. in the same venue.

An interesting opportunity to discover a key figure of twentieth-century Cortona and explore an original chapter in the city’s artistic history.