Romano Ravasio
Romano Ravasio with an installation by Žilvinas Kempinas
Romano Ravasio, Marina Pizziolo and couturier Lorenzo Riva at the Fondazione Sozzani, Milan
Romano Ravasio, Jiten Thukral (Thukral & Tagra) and the collector Antonio Stellatelli at the opening of the exhibition ‘Paris-Delhi-Bombay’ at the Centre Pompidou, Paris
Zhang Dali, Romano Ravasio, an art collector and Manuela Lietti in the artist’s studio in Beijing
Romano Ravasio analysing a painting under the microscope
Romano Ravasio with E.T. creator Carlo Rambaldi at the exhibition curated by Ravasio at the Fondazione Bandera
Romano Ravasio and the Indian collector Anurag Khanna, conference at the Italian Cultural Institute in New Delhi
Hassan Sharif and Romano Ravasio at The Flying House, Dubai
Art critic, expert in market trends. Founder and Director of Art Consulting, specialised in the study of modern and contemporary art and in the creation and direction of major collections, having developed a rare competence within the art system: the identification of forgeries through direct technical and material analysis of works.
Over thirty years of activity, he has conducted negotiations and acquisitions on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, established the permanent collection of the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, and defined the operational standards for sustainable public art together with Masdar City. He has also conducted verification screenings on institutional collections in Europe and the Gulf that resulted in the judicial seizure of thousands of forged works. Every decision is documented by verifiable acquisitions, permanent installations and scientific publications.
From restoration to screening. Beginning as a restorer of ancient art for the Soprintendenza, he was among the first in Italy to specialise in the restoration of contemporary art, carrying out experimental interventions for major museums and the recovery of works damaged in the 1994 Piedmont flood, with the experimental application of lipolytic enzymes on canvases compromised by mud. Direct reading of materials, executive technique and the historical compatibility of works constitutes the foundation of his method for identifying forgeries.
This experience forms the operational basis for every collection screening: from installation to maintenance and restoration, from the design of monitored archives and storage facilities to systematic verification of works and the execution of rigorous investigations aimed at the elimination of forgeries.
Over more than twenty years he has been called upon by museums, major collectors and institutions to address cases of dubious works and complex falsifications. Among these: the Venice case (2004), involving more than 4,000 works seized by judicial authority as forgeries; screenings of collections with false attributions to major masters, including a work attributed to Tintoretto whose technical analysis revealed an untenable attribution, accompanied by a forged page inserted into the historical catalogue. And an extensive series of screenings on Gulf collections with false attributions to Picasso, Van Gogh, Botero, Modigliani and Leonardo.
For ten years he served as curator of the collection at the Museo Treccani in Milan, for four years as curator of the Fondazione Francesco Pellin collection in Varese, and for three years as co-director of Fondazione Bandera in Busto Arsizio.
International projects. In New Delhi in 2005, he worked with the Birla Academy on the design of a new museum.
In 2007, with Marina Pizziolo, he launched Art Fair Preview, the first platform in the world to offer online previews of international art fairs. From 2013 he worked for the Abu Dhabi government on the site-specific art collection for the new New York University campus on Saadiyat Island, bringing into the project Antony Gormley, Alice Aycock, Tomás Saraceno, Richard Long, Etel Adnan, Ahmed Mater and Hassan Sharif. Between 2018 and 2020, with Marina Pizziolo, he developed the Rulebook for Sustainable Public Art for Masdar City, an operational guide for the commission, installation and management of sustainable public artworks. For the Dubai government he developed public art projects within Expo 2020 Dubai, in collaboration with Al Ain University.
In 2021, with Marina Pizziolo, he led the experimental editorial laboratory Re-Design at New York University Abu Dhabi, within the university’s teaching programme, producing with students the volume Thinking Digital. How Technologies (Will) Shape the Art Book, published by EdiXion.
The study of private collections. A central subject of his research is the study of private collections. In 1999, the experience accumulated led him, with Marina Pizziolo, to found Art Consulting, among the first firms to introduce historical and critical criteria of museum management into the construction of major private and institutional collections.
Among completed projects, the cataloguing of the Eni Petroli art collection and the direction of the Cristóbal Balenciaga drawings collection belonging to couturier Lorenzo Riva, a collection that, through Art Consulting’s work, was acquired in 2022 by the Museo Balenciaga in Getaria, in the Basque Country, and in part by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2025. The original collection comprised more than nine thousand drawings, today established as international museum heritage.
Among long-term projects: the construction of three successive collections for an Italian collector, the first dedicated to the artists of Corrente, the second to contemporary Italian art, the third to contemporary Indian and Chinese art, each documented by international institutional exhibitions and publications.
He currently directs important international collections, in a respected and guaranteed confidentiality.
Current research and projects. He is engaged in the direction of major projects with public institutions in India and the United Arab Emirates, while in South Africa he is developing a cooperation project dedicated to young artists. He founded and directs the Archivi di Corrente, a project of comparative study dedicated to the protagonists of the Corrente movement. In Italy, with Marina Pizziolo, he has initiated the rediscovery of Marco Carnà, a twentieth-century artist, overseeing the acquisition of five works by Fondazione Feierabend (2022) and the exhibition at the MUST in Vimercate (2024). In preparation: the scientific monograph (2026) and the major retrospective at Villa Reale in Monza (2027).
Museums and institutions. As a restorer of contemporary art he has worked in exhibitions at: Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan; Palazzo Reale, Milan; Triennale, Milan; Museo della Permanente, Milan; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome; Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome; Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bergamo; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Tate Modern, London; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Musée Picasso, Paris; Pushkin Museum, Moscow; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Lugano; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo; Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Nice; Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence; Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk.
EdiXion. In 2021, with Marina Pizziolo, he co-founded and co-directs EdiXion, a multimedia cultural publishing house integrating augmented publishing, virtual reality and innovative digital platforms.
Art4Life. For over fifteen years he has developed with Marina Pizziolo international art and solidarity projects in collaboration with Imbumba Foundation and Mandela Foundation, including the construction of a school in India. In 2026 this activity is formalised in the cultural association Art4Life Movement.
Books. He is co-author of numerous publications. Among the principal:
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2024, Marco Carnà. Uova di gallo 1961-1968, enhanced Focus, EdiXion, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 2024, Bahar Heidarzade. Le mie pietre sono aquiloni, enhanced Challenge, EdiXion, Milan. Exhibition curated with Marina Pizziolo;
VV.AA. 2021, Balenciaga. The glamorous 1950s. Drawings from the iconic Maison, enhanced Focus, EdiXion, Dubai;
VV.AA. September 2021, Thinking digital. How technologies (will) shape the art book, in collaboration with New York University Abu Dhabi, EdiXion, Dubai;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2013, This is not propaganda. Arte Contemporanea italiana. Collezione Antonio Stellatelli, L’Artistica, Savigliano;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2012, The Indian renaissance. A research project on the new frontiers of art, L’Artistica, Savigliano;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2009, Zhang Dali. The forbidden fascination of new China, Argo, Turin;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2007, Arte italiana contemporanea. New Entries, Arte-2000, Milan.
