In the heart of Domodossola, a town proudly nicknamed the “Borgo della cultura” for its medieval historic center, arcaded squares, historic palazzos, and winding lanes, sits Casa De Rodis in Piazza Mercato. This space, conceived and brought to life by the Poscio family, invites visitors to experience art through curated exhibitions and events. The autumn months—when the foliage turns the valley into a tapestry of color—are ideal for those venturing to the Alto Piemonte and nearby Switzerland to make a stop in this Ossola gem and explore a contemporary show.
To mark its tenth anniversary, Casa De Rodis presents, up to January 11, 2026, a solo exhibition curated by Elena Pontiggia: “10 Years at Casa De Rodis,” which traces the gallery’s exhibition history. The show features ten works by ten different artists from the Poscio Collection, three of which are presented in dialogue with the site-specific project INTERSPAZIO – Dialoghi Sospesi tra Segno Forma e Memoria, created by contemporary artist Matteo Ufocinque Capobianco.
On November 21, Casa De Rodis will host a contemporary dance performance, 10 Small Rooms, by Danila Massara. This performance reimagines the museum as a house composed of rooms, each with its own identity. Art lives within these rooms, and the public will move through the space in a dance-inflected encounter with the works.
Two performances will be staged at 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM, tickets €8, with mandatory reservations until capacity is reached by writing to mostre@collezioneposcio.it. The program continues with Domodossola’s beloved Christmas Markets on December 13–14, with the distinctive red-topped stalls that populate the town center and culminate at the grande tree in Piazza Mercato, opposite Casa De Rodis.
Additionally, from November 16 through the end of the exhibition, visitors arriving in Domodossola via the Vigezzo Railway and presenting the Locarno-Domodossola tourist train ticket to Casa De Rodis will receive a 20% reduction on the entrance contribution (€4 instead of €5).
Casa De Rodis is a medieval-inflected townhouse fully renovated by the Poscio family to house and juxtapose their collection with works from other collectors and museums, offering everyone the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of art. This year marks ten years of open doors and hosting 12 exhibitions to date.
The Poscio Collection grew from the “passionate incompetence” of Alessandro Poscio and his wife Paola, who over fifty years assembled works across painting, drawing, and sculpture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Alessandro, a young entrepreneur, became acquainted with octogenarian painter Carlo Fornara, a key figure in the early 1900s Divisionist movement. This friendship profoundly shaped the collector’s life, guiding him toward a deepening passion for pictures, which gradually formed a collection that stands as a record of encounters, fortunate chances, revelations, and romantic infatuations—outside any conventional academic script.
From Fornara’s early works, the collection expands to the Vigezzini contemporaries of Fornara—Rastellini, Ciolina, and Peretti—and to predecessor expatriate portraitists, followed by contemporary painters rooted in diverse movements such as Divisionism, Macchiaioli, and Scapigliatura. To convey the essence of this diverse, cross-era collection, Elena Pontiggia has selected ten works by ten different artists, explaining: “Through a kind of borehole sampling (the ‘cores’ are rock samples analyzed in the lab), these ten works convey not the entirety of the collection—which would be impossible—but the gaze that Alessandro and Paola Poscio cast upon the works, chosen for a kind of love that transcended tactics, strategy, and—even more so—any calculation, economic or otherwise.”
Thus the journey runs from Carlo Fornara’s landscapes to a portrait by Francesco Hayez, to the views of John Constable and Antonio Fontanesi, then to Telemaco Signorini and Giuseppe De Nittis, and finally to a drawing by Giovanni Boldini, a pastel by Federico Zandomeneghi, and bronzes by Paolo Troubetzkoy and Francesco Messina.
“This tenth anniversary is a meaningful milestone, especially in the mercurial art world and, more broadly, in the Italian art system, where initiatives—often grounded in genuine conviction—are frequently halted by various factors,” Pontiggia notes. “So we must celebrate this date, letting the notion of a ‘festival’ be festive, affectionate, not triumphal or merely ceremonial.”
The decade-long life of Casa De Rodis has been rich with encounters, including a collaboration with artist Matteo Capobianco (born 1981, in Novara) who, under the moniker Ufocinque, contributed the INTERSPAZIO project: Dialoghi Sospesi tra Segno Forma e Memoria. The three site-specific installations propose a threshold space between the visitor and the artwork, each built from cut paper, painted or drawn elements. Soglia (Threshold) engages in dialogue with Fontanesi’s Paesaggio a Morestel, Troubetzkoy’s Ombra con la Ballerina, and Boldini’s Ritratto di Madame Errazuriz. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Italgrafica.
Photo credits: Ph Antonio Maniscalco
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