Credito Valtellinese Foundation, sponsored by Sondrio's municipal authorities, is mounting a further exhibition at Palazzo Sertoli and Palazzo Pretorio. The initiative represents something new within the series of events that the Foundation has been organising to celebrate the Jubilee Year. It is a retrospective exhibition devoted to Luigi Castiglioni's works. The whole production of this world-famous painter and poster designer has been inspired by the great surrealist tradition, which aimed at representing the metaphorical transformations of Rimbaud's poetry through the visual arts. The artist is rightfully regarded as the one who carries on the poster revolution, which began with Lautrec and found a new dimension with Magritte.

Born in Milan in 1936, Castiglioni was an infant prodigy. At the age of 4, in fact, he already painted. He studied at Brera Academy of Fine Arts and organised his first exhibition when he was only 14. Later on, he became decorator at Milan's Teatro La Scala. Fellini wanted him to decorate the sets of his movie La Dolce Vita. In 1960, in Paris, he exhibited his paintings, marked by dreamy surrealism. 1972 saw an important turning point. Rodolfo Sabbatini, who organised important boxing events, asked him to realise the poster for illustrating the match between Jean Claude Bouttier and Carlos Monzon valid for the world middleweight champion title. Castiglioni's work definitely broke with the tradition of that genre, starting the "Castiglioni's age", during which the artist realised more than three hundred posters illustrating the most important sporting events of the last 30 years, which were exhibited everywhere around the world.

Castiglioni constantly aimed at changing symbols into icons, visual metaphors catching the attention of the public. In addition to illustrating the most beloved sports, he embraced humanitarian causes, turned to novels adapted for the screen and to splendid animals, such as felines. Among his works, let us recall, as an example, the unforgettable poster he realised to encourage Valtellina after the catastrophe of 1987.

The 130 exhibits shown in two sections - pictures and posters - reveal Castiglioni's talent: virtuous drawing technique, definite design, colour dynamism, explosive imagination. On the occasion of the World Sky Cup Final, a separate section of the exhibition devoted to posters which illustrate sporting events only, will be mounted in Bormio, at the Rotary Point, inside Braulio cellars.