Katy Caterina Castellucci was born in Laglio in the province of Como in 1905 and died in Rome in 1985.

After having studied in Rome, she moved to Paris to focus on art and dance at Isadora Duncan’s school. In 1927, she was a dancer in Enrico Prampolini’s “Pantomime Futurista” at the Theater de la Madeleine.

In 1928, she came back to Rome, enrolled in night school at San Giacomo, and started spending time with Pericle Fazzini and Alberto Ziveri. In the same period, she met Scipione and Mario Mafai, which became fundamental for her artistic development and direction. She started to approach the tones of the Roman School, imbuing them with vivid color.

In 1932, she made her debut at the 3rd Exhibition of the Lazio Syndicate together with Giuseppe Capogrossi, Emanuele Cavalli, and Francesco Trombatori.

She showed in 1936 at the Galleria della Cometa with Adriana Pincherle

She married the journalist Corrado De Vita, editor of the Milano Sera newspaper.

In 1943 she had a solo exhibition at the Galleria Minima in Via del Babuino in Rome.

Katy Castellucci moved to Milan

In 1946, she moved to Milan, where she stopped painting and focused on teaching.

In the same period, she worked for cinema and theater designing costumes and sets (Costumes for La Mandragola, 1953; sets for La Fata Morgana, 1954)

She participated in the 6th Roman Quadriennale in 1951.

In 1955, she held a solo show at the Zodiac Gallery.

In the 1960s, she gradually moved away from the art world to devote herself entirely to teaching.

In 2021, the exhibition “Katy Castellucci: the Roman School and Beyond” opened at the Museum of Villa Torlonia.