The first office was opened in Rome in 1898, the year in which Pasquale Addeo, great-grandfather of the current owner Fabrizio Russo, inaugurated an antiques gallery in Babuino street.
The business was subsequently continued by his son-in-law Franco Russo, always specializing in old and nineteenth-century paintings assisted, later on, by his brother Ettore.
The latter, with his third brother Antonio, opens the new headquarters of Barcaccia in Spagna square, which soon became one of the most prestigious Italian galleries of modern art until 1980, establishing privileged relationships with some of the most significant painters of the XX century, first of all Giorgio de Chirico with an exclusive contract of over twenty years.
The passion and rigor of Ettore and Antonio Russo made the gallery in Spagna square an absolute reference point for the entire art market in Italy.
Countless exhibitions by important Italian and international artists have taken place for over forty years also in the spaces of Croce street and Fontanella street.
In the meantime Franco Russo continued his commitment to the world of art, dealing with ancient painting (Tiziano, Dosso Dossi, Caravaggio, Lega, Segantini, Bellini etc.) but with an ever vigilant attention to contemporary Italian painting.
After the sudden death of Franco Russo, in 1960, the family business was continued by his son Salvatore, who was responsible for the opening of the prestigious Scalino headquarters in Capo le Case street – also based in Salsomaggiore, Abano Terme, Milan Marittima – and the growing interest in contemporary Italian painting.
In 1984 the headquarters opened in nearby Alibert street, where one of Salvatore’s sons, the twenty-year-old Fabrizio Russo, also took his first steps.
In 1994 the gallery returned to occupy again, after almost a hundred years, the first floor of Babuino street 53, where important personal and collective exhibitions of Italian painting of the 1900s were set up, together with the headquarters in Alibert street 15 / a, between which are remembered: Campigli, Guttuso, Gentilini, Sironi, Boccioni, Cambellotti, Afro and many others.
Salvatore also died prematurely in 2002, the son continued the family business as the fourth generation, expanding the Gallery and opening a new restaurant, also in Alibert street.
The F. Russo Gallery is in Alibert street 20, a few steps from Spagna square.