Our Story

Studio d'Arte Liquor Vitae operated from 1979 until its closure a few years ago. Founded and directed for decades by Pietro Vocale, who is now retired, the gallery is no longer open to the public. This website remains online as a historical archive for the Collezione Privata Liquor Vitae, sharing the stories behind the works it preserves.

The Art Gallery Liquor Vitae was founded in 1979 by its founder and longtime director Pietro Vocale. Among the first cultural activities undertaken by the studio were research projects about the history and traditions of Capitanata, an area in the south of Italy, around San Severo. A permanent exhibition of popular culture was set up. Over the years, many other cultural initiatives would follow. Among those stand out exhibitions about autographs, business cards, posters, cartography, books and newspapers of Capitanata. Very soon Liquor Vitae attracted more attention by proposing exhibitions of local, national and even international interest. In its first location it would showcase artworks by important contemporary avant-garde artists, including some from the Italian Transavanguardia and the French Figuration Libre. Other shows included artworks from Beuys, Rainer, Nitsch, Stout, Mosbacher, del Re, Dorazio, del Pezzo, etc. Together with fellow citizen and artist Teo De Palma, who exhibited multiple times in our studio, we produced an illustrated research on profane and religious myths from the south of Italy. The collection of etchings was named Between Myth and History (Tra Mito e Storia), with an opening preface by Alfonso M. di Nola (1981).

In 1982 the Studio Liquor Vitae premiered the installation "Homo, Hominis, Homini (Il Palcoscenico in Gabbia col Quotidiano)", directed by the art historian Prof. Gaetano Mongelli, with participation from artists Teo De Palma, Giovanni di Capua and Aldo Sabatino.

Together with the local municipal library, we published a comprehensive bibliographic repertoire about the periodical press of San Severo and Capitanata (1981).

In the gallery's later years, temporary exhibitions were suspended while searching for new spaces. A permanent exhibition of paintings and selected artworks from 1500 to 1950 remained available by appointment, featuring many items selected from inheritances of families from the south of Italy.

A particular interest in photography was evident in several initiatives programmed over the years, such as the exhibitions of Wilhelm von Gloeden and Wilhelm von Pluschow, and more recently with the exhibition of the work of Ignazio D'Anzeo, premiered in Carpino (Gargano) in the summer of 1999.

Our cultural initiatives were followed and featured by many local publications. We'd like to thank La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Bari), Il Gargano Nuovo (Vico G.co), Il Centro (Lucera), L'Esopo (Milano), Puglia (Bari), Il Fauno (Firenze), Il Gazzettino Dauno (Foggia), Segno (Pescara), Il Tempo (Roma), Il Giornale dell'Arte (Torino), L'Espresso (Roma), Qui Foggia (Foggia), Perimetro (Potenza), Tele Blu (Foggia), Protagonisti (Foggia), Enkomion (Cassano M.), etc.