Artist Irene Venezia
A mutual love for all things vintage is how we first met Irene. She visited Fritto Misto Comune in the early days, looking for inspiration for her own home renovation project. She arrived with a small hand-drawn gift (of food, of course) and left with inspiration of her own.
It was without doubt that we wanted her to be part of the project. So when we met again at Casa Renata to share a meal and talk about her work and the postcard project, it already felt like home.
That evening unfolded over an Indian feast of chicken masala, dhal (her first time), and a table full of vegetable dishes, shared alongside a Sicilian white wine. The kind of evening where things move slowly, where conversation drifts between ideas, stories, and small details that stay with you.
Irene is an illustrator from the Marche region, born in 1993. Her work moves between coloured pencil and digital drawing, often with a slightly gothic edge, but always softened with humour and lightness. There’s something playful in the way she sees the world, even when it leans into darker tones.
After studying film at DAMS in Bologna, her creative practice expanded beyond drawing, but illustration has always remained at the centre. Alongside her work, she creates small objects and beaded pieces, and spends time walking in the woods or reading with her cats. This vibe feels quietly aligned with the way she draws.
“Creativity makes me who I am,” she tells us. “I can’t live without it. When I stop creating, something feels wrong.”
Inspiration comes from everywhere — films, books, conversations, fragments of other people’s stories. Not always obvious, but always present.
For the postcard project, Irene’s response was immediate.
“The first thing I noticed about Fritto Misto Comune was the attention to detail,” she says. “Everything has meaning, from the furniture to the flowers to the food. Nothing feels out of place… there’s heart in everything.”
The second was the atmosphere.
“It feels like being at home. No formalities. Safe to do and say what you feel, and like anything is possible… no rules.”
That idea stayed with her — and became the foundation of her piece.
Her drawings are intentionally imperfect, slightly exaggerated, and not fully realistic.
“I don’t like perfection,” she says. “I prefer something more emotional, more evocative.”
There’s humour in her work too, a quiet irony. A subtle shift. Something slightly unexpected.
Fritto Misto Comune. Well, it’s…
“Something different for Fabriano,” she says. “A new way of seeing the city”
When we ask who she last sent a postcard to, she smiles.
“My older sister in Tuscany,” she says. “It’s a way to stay close to someone… and it’s wonderfully vintage.”
And when someone receives this one?
“I want them to feel curious,” she says. “Maybe even a little confused.”
She laughs.
“That’s the point.”
Like the project itself, Irene’s work sits somewhere between familiarity and disruption, but not bound by it.
Fabriano, seen slightly differently.
