AlexArt Celebrates Eleven Years. What a Journey!

As we step into 2026, AlexArt International Art Gallery in Sarasota, Florida, celebrates an exciting milestone: 11 years of artistic activity, creativity, and growth. Its story intertwines with that of the Dal Boni family, the Italian family who founded the gallery in 2015 in the historic space that once housed the Golden Apple Dinner Theater. Over the years, AlexArt has become a must-see art destination in Florida for collectors and art lovers alike.

The gallery bears the name of Alexa Scanziani — a Harvard graduate, former New York Times international reporter, and passionate art connoisseur, as well as the wife of artist Fabio Dal Boni. In their search for the right place to establish a gallery, Sarasota immediately stood out as one of the top small cities for art in the United States. Moreover, the location next to the Sarasota Opera House seemed ideal for a community known for its cultural sophistication and refined appreciation for fine art.

At the time, the Dal Boni family had recently moved from Milan, Italy, to the United States on an O-1 visa, which is issued to individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement in their field. It was a time of exciting projects but also great uncertainty, as Alexa’s husband Fabio suffered a massive heart attack on December 22, 2015.

AlexArt International opened its doors representing an exclusive artist — the Italian master Massimo Meda, whose monumental three-dimensional paintings glow under black light and captivated American collectors. The grand opening on May 21, 2016, was a true “wow” experience, with the artist in attendance and visitors amazed as the gallery lights switched from traditional illumination to black light, revealing the extraordinary effect of Meda’s works. After the two-year agreement for Meda’s solo and permanent exhibition, the gallery gradually introduced other nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.

During this time, Fabio Dal Boni was also on a personal artistic quest. After experiencing a Near-Death Experience, he sought to recreate the extraordinary colors he had seen. In 2017, after many experiments, he found the solution: by using special inks and treating aluminum at very high temperatures, he could create vibrant and luminous landscapes inspired by Florida and by the places he traveled. Collectors enthusiastically embraced his work — a unique fusion of contemporary pop sensibility and hyperrealistic detail.

Encouraged by this success, Fabio was invited in November 2017 to present some of his architectural works at an event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Several pieces sold there, followed by further sales at Miami Art Basel, Art Santa Fe, ArtExpo New York, and Architecture of Time in Boston.

They sold, as sold many of his artworks exhibited at Miami Art Basel the following week and later on at Art Santa Fe in New Mexico, Art Expo in New York, and Architecture of Time in Boston. 

Through their participation in art fairs, Fabio and Alexa discovered and connected with several remarkable American artists whom they decided to represent at AlexArt International. Soon the gallery walls featured the vibrant abstract oil paintings of Bill Stone and the metaphysical mixed-media works of Sharon Grimes. Their works created a beautiful dialogue that continues to enrich the gallery’s program to this day.

Over the years, many other artists joined the AlexArt International family. Among them are internationally known Italian landscape and portrait painter Guido Borelli, his wife Danka Weitzen with her elegant still lifes and equestrian subjects, cartoonist Paolo Passoni, fashion photographer Edoardo Montaina, acrylic painter Mauro Drudi, sculptor Carmelo Messina, Canadian photographer Andrea Hillebrand, American master watercolorist Michele Tabor Kimbrough, Turkish acrylic painter Lara Sabrina Yilmaz, and Venezuelan mixed-media artist Oriana Gerez. The gallery also hosts an annual exhibition dedicated to the great masters of 18th-century Venetian painting.

In 2022, another important milestone arrived: Fabio and Alexa Dal Boni became American citizens.

By 2023, Fabio Dal Boni had also established himself as the gallery’s artist-in-residence. In addition to his artistic career, he gained recognition as a writer with his book An Extra Life — 8 Minutes in Heaven with my Father, a moving account of his Near-Death Experience and an inspiring story of love, faith, and rebirth. The book was also presented at the Heart of Gold Starlight Gala, a joint event of the Pepin Heart Institute and AdventHealth Foundation in Tampa, Florida.

Over the years, AlexArt International — with its five-step ceilings rising to sixteen feet, three majestic three-panel arched windows, sculpted concrete pillars and desk, and impressive stainless-steel vault — has become not only an art gallery but also a vibrant cultural space. It has hosted poetry readings, book presentations, concerts, private dinners, weddings, charity events, and community gatherings.

To celebrate this remarkable 11-year journey, AlexArt International will host a series of free Live Painting Exhibitions featuring some of its outstanding artists.Thank you for being part of our incredible journey.