Rotella's House - Casa della Memoria: the Sacred Temple of Décollage

In the heart of the ancient Jewish quarter of Catanzaro, along the evocative Vico dell'Onda - a name that recalls the ancient sericultural tradition of the city and the precious "undulated" or moiré fabrics - stands a place that is at once a birth home, museum, and temple of contemporary art.

Rotella's House is not just an exhibition space, but the sancta sanctorum where Mimmo Rotella, the genius of décollage, wanted to honor his own roots and the maternal figure that shaped his artistic sensibility. Vico dell'Onda: Where Art Arises from Tradition The very name of the street tells a fascinating story: "onda" in textile jargon identifies the moiré fabrics, those precious gros de Tours and gros de Naples that came out of the Catanzaro factories creating concentric light effects through complex work under heavy mangani. Here, where the noise of the looms once resounded and silk threads intertwined, today the threads of artistic memory of one of the greatest masters of the twentieth century intertwine. The Modiste's House: Where It All Began The building that now houses the Memory House guards a precious secret: it is the birth home of Mimmo Rotella, his mother's residence where she ran an elegant millinery atelier. On the white façade, next to the entrance door, the sign "MODE" continues to remind of the activity that made the artist's mother famous throughout the city. Rotella himself conceived this space as a "sacred topos," rigorous and candid, where to pay homage to the woman who transmitted to him the aesthetic sense and love for beauty. As the artist stated: "Here art passed from maternal hands to the son's gaze." The Childhood Workshop Just beyond the central hall, a room of extraordinary charm recreates the atmosphere of the ancient maternal atelier. Hanging hats, boxes containing feathers and materials of all kinds evoke the young Rotella who "rummaged through his mother's work materials," discovering in those fabrics, colors, and shapes the first "materials of sight" that he would later find in his artistic wanderings. The Artist's Vision: Art as Peace and Prophecy Rotella wanted this house to not be a "closed box," but a space open to the world. As he explained: "In the South, there are few realities interested in contemporary art. The Memory House could become the central point of a network that exists in Calabria but lacks coordination. I feel not only Calabrian but a citizen of the world and I would like the Memory House and my art to communicate with the inhabitants of the planet to say that art is peace and prophecy." The Exhibition: A Journey into Décollage The Art Nave The large central hall, conceived as a sacred nave, hosts a selection of works that tell the artistic evolution of the master. Here unfold: Giant décollages torn from the walls of distant cities More int...