Glauco Cavaciuti: “A gallery owner must sell emotions, not just paintings”

Interview with Glauco Cavaciuti, Milanese gallery owner, about his encounter with Pietro and the value of normality in contemporary art.

The beginning of a fortunate meeting

"Hello, Chile!" Glauco Cavaciuti greets with a smile. At 54, the Milanese gallery owner has already gone through several chapters of art history: from 17th-century collecting to 20th-century art, up to contemporary art. "I have been dealing with art since I was seventeen. I buy, sell, and live off art. It's a love that has never left me."

He recounts that the meeting with Pietro happened by chance during an aperitif with a friend, Chiara Cazzamali. "She told me that she had met an artist I would like. To tell the truth, I receive similar proposals every day: friends, relatives, boyfriends, or children of someone who paints. But that evening, while Chiara was talking, I opened Instagram and wrote directly to Pietro. A few minutes later, we had already set an appointment for the next day."

Cavaciuti fondly remembers that first visit to the studio in Lodi: "I found him true, sincere, with canvases scattered on the floor, not out of disorder but out of naturalness. I liked them right away. I don't remember if I bought five or ten, but I told him: 'In February, I’m doing an exhibition for you.' It was September. It's not something I often do, but I felt there was something special."

A true talent

From that moment, Pietro's journey has been rapid and surprising. "When we met again, he arrived with sixty works, all different, each more beautiful than the last. I thought he would make thirty. It was a wonderful moment: we set up the exhibition together, with great enthusiasm."

The first exhibition attracted more than eight thousand visitors in a month, and the second, the following year, over ten thousand in a week. "It was extraordinary, but mine is a private gallery: we couldn't handle such high numbers. So we decided to move the exhibition to a public space, at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Antonello Grimaldi believed in Pietro and the project, welcoming us to one of the oldest and most symbolic places in Milan. It was a beautiful gesture."

For Cavaciuti, the choice of an accessible location also had a human value: "We wanted to allow everyone to enter, even those, like people with disabilities, who could not visit the gallery due to the stairs. Art must be for everyone, and this exhibition made it possible."

On brands, social media, and naturalness

When discussing the collaborations between Pietro and brands, Cavaciuti smiles: "He handles that directly. I observe as a spectator, but I am happy to see that they choose him for his spontaneity. Pietro does not construct an image: he is simply himself. He is natural, authentic. A rare quality nowadays."

He then reflects on the meaning of this "normality" that he values so much:
"Today being normal is almost revolutionary. Being real, speaking simply, expressing deep concepts without artifice. Pietro has this gift. He manages to touch universal emotions with simple words and images."

The role of the gallery owner

Cavaciuti passionately describes his role: "A gallery owner should not sell a piece of color hanging on the wall. They must sell an emotion. My task is to seek that emotion, recognize it in an artist, and present it to the public. It is this that has allowed me to grow and has enabled me, after many years, to be a small point of reference in Milan."

A journey between art and life

During the tour of the exhibition space, Glauco shows some works by Pietro: canvases inspired by Caravaggio's famous Basket of Fruit, ironic reinterpretations of icons such as Schiaparelli and Gucci, and a series of works dedicated to the messages (“DM”) that the artist transformed into a sold-out artist book.

"This work on an old Gucci bag talks about the passage of time and the need to enjoy it. It is a romantic dedication, a game between stars and words," he explains while walking through the rooms. "And then, this one dedicated to Casa Cipriani... a small homage to beauty and simple pleasures: pasta, wine, and kisses. Life, in short."

The meeting of art, fashion, and vision

In Cavaciuti's narrative, art and life intertwine naturally — and in this intertwining lies the philosophy of Rosato Studio & Agency: the search for authentic beauty, attention to detail, and the ability to connect different worlds through a shared aesthetic language.

This conversation is not just about painting, but about the constant dialogue between art and fashion, between emotion and representation. Pietro's canvases, born from a spontaneous gesture, echo within the codes of contemporary luxury, where message and matter coexist with the same intensity.
Like in the work of a fashion house or in a publishing campaign, here as well, imagination, vision, and sensitivity intertwine.

For Rosato, this interview represents a bridge between disciplines, a testimony of how contemporary visual culture can be both commercial and poetic, ephemeral and eternal.
In the end, as Cavaciuti reminds, "a gallery owner does not sell a painting, but an emotion" — and perhaps even those who communicate, design, or tell stories do exactly the same.

Thanks

We sincerely thank Glauco Cavaciuti for welcoming us to his Milanese gallery and for sharing with us his sensitive and human perspective on art.
And a special thanks to Pietro, for inviting us to the opening of his exhibition at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, where contemporary art meets the history and light of Milan.