This is a great surprise. In today’s edition of Il Foglio, a daily Italian newspaper, there is a full two-page centerfold article about D’Artagnan and Pietro, showing how their friendship led to the foundation of the ICBIE. What a perfect way to kick off D’Artagnan’s centennial year (he was born in 1911).
The lengthy article by Nicoletta Tiliacos opens with the title, “D’Artagnan and the little Roman Kid, from Misery to the MOMA” and the subtitle, “The fairy tale with a happy ending of a painter half-actor without a family and the young Pietro Gallina. The journey of a visionary vagabond and his squire, from Piazza della Consolazione to the Museum of Modern Art of New York.” A big banner across the second page proclaims, “How the drawings of Ele D’Artagnan, salvaged from two trunks, made the fortune of his old friend, who has now dedicated a school in Salvador de Bahia to him.”
What a stupendous splash of publicity for our story!
