Established in 2009 and chaired by entrepreneur Ornella Laneri, the OELLE Mediterraneo Antico ETS Foundation—with its operational and exhibition headquarters within the Laneri family's hotel—assumed its current cultural and scientific orientation in 2017. Its primary goal is to connect different ethnic groups in a continuous and contemporary artistic fusion, acting as a "cultural detonator" for projects and visions.
The Foundation pursues its mission through various forms:
CONTEMPORARY ART, with exhibitions and artist residencies, aiming to promote emerging talents and stimulate demographic, anthropological, and cultural exchange through the languages of art. The foundation offers artists in residence spaces for work and reflection, allowing them to create works that engage with the historical and social context of Sicily and the broader Mediterranean. The OELLE vision also takes shape in tailor-made exhibitions in venues that adapt to each artist's specific projects.
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EDUCATION AND TERRITORY, with training activities involving students from primary schools to Sicilian Fine Arts Academies, through workshops and projects aimed at understanding and exploring contemporary art.
HISTORY AND MEMORY, a contemporary past and connections—preserved within a Photographic Pavilion—between the moral legacy of the 1943 landing in Sicily, inherited from the great photographer Phil Stern, and the constantly evolving reinterpretation of places and memories.
The Foundation's activities are contained in its "Logbooks," publications that aim to archive and preserve the memory of its completed projects.
The Foundation also operates within the national and international cultural landscape through collaborations with public bodies, private institutions, and cultural partners, in a dynamic network, a constantly evolving network of thought that confirms its nomadic spirit and vocation for continuous cross-fertilization.
The RIV Foundation, the Academy of Fine Arts of Catania, Isola Catania, and the Museum of Sicilian Knowledge and Mirabilia of the University of Catania are some of the organizations with which OELLE has established partnerships; the Foundation has been a member of the Contemporary Art Foundations Committee since 2025.