Art and politics together in Dubai. It’s not often that these issues meet. However, thanks to an Italian art dealer, an art enthusiast politician, a minister interested beyond official commitments and some "expats", Oblong, the most beautiful gallery in the Emirate, was a very promising visit’s stage.

The prestigious Oblong, our reference art gallery in Dubai, a cultural bridge between West and the Middle East, exclusive representative on site of great Italian and international artists, including "our" Flavio Lucchini, received the Minister Di Maio visiting Dubai and the Italian pavilion in progress at Expo 2020/2021 which will open in October...

Giovanni Gastel, an extraordinary man, photographer, artist, poet, writer of undisputed greatness, passed away in a moment of Covid. Grandson of the filmmaker Luchino Visconti, from a noble and wealthy family, in order to be a photographer he paid his dues like many others, starting from scratch. It just so happened that the beginning of his career was precisely in Edimoda, publishing house of Donna and Mondo Uomo, revolutionary fashion magazines created by Flavio Lucchini and which in the 80s even outclassed Vogue Italia and L'Uomo Vogue, created right by Lucchini. I ran Donna, and I introduced him to the magical fashion world.

If I think back to my life intertwined with that of Giovanni Gastel, the first memory that comes to my mind is this thin and introverted boy who, selected by Flavio who was the art director, I was given to make Donna's cover by Ferré which Toscani had to do when he left in a sudden fit of temper...