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 This refrigerator, illustrated with themes and ornamental motifs from the traditional iconography of the Sicilian cart, takes inspiration from the epic poem by Torquato Tasso, “Jerusalem Delivered”. A chivalric scene, framed by numerous polychrome geometric elements, is represented in the centre of the front panel. On the sides, the classic circular and star friezes with medallions featuring the profiles of the paladins stand out against a checkerboard pattern dominated by the colours blue, red and green.