The Collezione La Gaia was founded in the 1970s from a shared passion for art between Bruna Girodengo and Matteo Viglietta. With humility but a strong desire for knowledge, they started visiting art galleries, fairs, and exhibitions in Italy and abroad. They spent much time in libraries and museum bookstores when their curiosity for deeper understanding wasn't satisfied by the exhibitions themselves. Their journey began with modern art, and gradually they moved toward contemporary art, learning to interpret and appreciate it, making contemporary art the main focus of their research.
Currently, the Collezione La Gaia boasts more than 2.500 works of art by 833 artists dating from the early twentieth century to the nineteen sixties. It continues to include a notable collection of conceptual and minimal art, as well as Arte Povera, by artists who have shaped the history of contemporary art from the 1960s to today. These works have been collected over more than forty years without any specific criteria or pre-established order, avoiding favoritism towards any particular artistic movement, creative approach, medium, or generation. Instead, the collection has been built simply based on personal taste. The common thread is the courage to believe in works that only the future can validate, many of which address challenging themes and question certainties and customs of our time.
Since the death of Matteo Viglietta in November 2020, the Collezione La Gaia has been managed by his four children, Giovanni, Cristina, Paolo, and Roberto. With deep admiration for their father's extraordinary journey and his lifelong partner, Bruna, they have revitalized efforts to preserve and enhance the collection, especially through research and exhibitions. At the same time, they have supported unprecedented collaboration projects both locally and internationally, with more to come, establishing the Collezione's role as a space for sharing and experimentation.