Exhibition of Riccardo Cordero, Creator of the 2026 Palio Banner

The creation of the Palio Banner represents a meaningful meeting point between the long-standing tradition of the Giostra and the artistic research of a master who, throughout his career, has developed an original and distinctive visual language, capable of engaging with space, material, and the memory of places. Conceived for the 2026 edition, the banner embodies and interprets the deepest identity of the Alba area, transforming the coveted prize contested by the town’s boroughs into a true work of art.

The bond between Alba and Riccardo Cordero continues through this exhibition, hosted in the evocative setting of the Coro della Maddalena. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to explore the artist’s creative vision through a selection of works that testify to his constant formal research and his unique relationship with matter, space, and landscape.

The exhibition invites visitors, art enthusiasts, and scholars alike to discover the work of one of Italy’s leading contemporary sculptors, in an ideal dialogue between art, history, and territory, for which the city of Alba provides an exceptional setting.

Riccardo Cordero was born in 1942 in Alba, in the province of Cuneo.
An internationally renowned artist and holder of the Chair of Sculpture at the Accademia Albertina in Turin until 2001, he made his debut at a very young age, receiving immediate acclaim from critics and collectors. This marked the beginning of a career that has led him to exhibit, particularly in the field of sculpture, in Argentina, Brazil, France, Iraq, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, the United States, and especially China. A career characterized by uninterrupted success and projects carried out in both Asia and the United States through artist residencies within Sculpture Parks, University Campuses, and Scientific Research Centers.
His artistic training took place at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, where he graduated with honors in Sculpture in 1963. However, as early as 1960, he was already participating, by invitation, in major national and international art exhibitions. In 1978, he was invited to present a solo exhibition at the 49th Venice Biennale, and in 2005 he was invited to the 14th Rome Quadrennial. He has won numerous international sculpture competitions and created many monumental works. Among the most notable are: Disarticolare un cerchio, at the Gallery of Modern Art in Turin; Chakra, in Piazza Galimberti, Turin.
From 2005 to the present, he has been invited to China to create monumental works in public and private spaces in Shanghai, Taiwan, Wuhu, Beijing, Haining, and Zhengzhou.
In 2021, he was among the winners of the competition organized in Beijing in connection with the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the sculpture New ET, standing 17 metres high. In the same year, he was invited to participate in the 1st Macao International Art Biennale (China).