Free Standing refrigerator

Smeg & Dolce&Gabbana 50's Style Aesthetic

Michele Ducato was born in Palermo in 1972. He specialised in Applied Arts in high school and then took a degree in Architecture. Since he was a boy, Michele has pursued an interest in cart painting, an art that has been handed down in his family for three generations, starting with his grandfather, also Michele, who opened an atelier in Bagheria in 1895 at the age of 14. Working with his father Giuseppe, he is passionately devoted to the decoration and scrupulous restoration of Sicilian carts. The venerable history of this workshop is tied to the revivial and preservation of this art, with the aim of sharing it with an ever larger audience and making it accessible to young people.

Enamel and oil, 60 x 151 x 68.2 cm The front of the refrigerator is dominated by a scene from “Orlando Furioso”, the battle between the fierce Moorish warrior Mandricardo, king of the Tartars, and two Carolingian paladins. The vibrant colours, juxtaposed with white, compose the typical radial and checkerboard decorations of the Sicilian cart. The epic-chivalric them continues on the side panels, where traditional geometric figures are joined by representations of two brave knights framed by medallions. The top features the stidda a due panze, a variant of the classic star decoration, embellished here with a type of border known as francisi, insofar as it employs the colours of the French flag.