Alain Elkann Interviews: Giorgio Spanu

Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu are the co-founders of Magazzino Italian Art, a museum and research center dedicated to postwar and contemporary Italian art that is located in Cold Spring, New York. Magazzino opened in2017 at the former manufacturing site of Cyberchron rugged military computer systems. The name Magazzino translates as “warehouse”.

You can listen to the podcast of this interview here.

Giorgio Spanu, you are Sardinian, which is not exactly the same thing as being Italian, and your wife Nancy is a New Yorker. Please tell me about your encounter with Nancy?

Nancy and I met in New York. We are both born on an island. I was born on the island of Sardinia in the town of Iglesias, while Nancy was born on the island of Manhattan, which is part of New York City. Sardinia is bigger in territory and New York is way bigger in population, however they are both surrounded by water, so that is what Nancy and I have in common. We are two islanders and we both love waterways.