The programme celebrated Italian excellence through sensory experience, placing art and viticulture (cultivation and harvesting of grapes) side by side.
It also marked the official launch of the Italian Cultural Institute of Nairobi’s 2026 cultural programme themed ‘The Italian Experience: a cultural journey through the five senses’.
Wine as pigment, memory and voice
At the heart of the experience was PurpleRyta, an artist deeply rooted in Italy’s Langhe wine region.
Living and working in the Barolo area of northern Italy, her practice is inseparable from the land, its history and its wine.
She does not merely paint with wine; she communicates through it.
“I’m a painter. A particular painter because I paint with wine. I also drink but see it as a medium to paint,” she said.
“I call myself PurpleRyta because it’s my favourite colour since I was a child and it’s also the colour of wine.”
Her work reflects a long journey between two worlds and for years, she worked in wine communication while painting on the side.
Eventually, those two paths converged and she began painting with wine as a new form of expression.
“It allows me to express myself because it brings out creativity in my mind,” she said.
PurpleRyta’s process is intuitive and shaped by chance since she does not plan her images in advance.
Usually, she begins with a single spot of wine.
“I make a splash on the paper and from this spot or stain, I start to imagine what can be. It’s the spot that tells me what art I want to come up with,” she explained.
Letting the wine lead
This philosophy came alive during a live artistic performance in Nairobi, where, for about an hour, the audience watched as an artwork slowly emerged from an initial wine stain.
The piece grew organically, guided by the movement, colour and unpredictability of the wine itself.
For PurpleRyta, that unpredictability is essential.
“I always say that there are no mistakes in this art because it’s the wine that leads you. Half of the responsibility of what you paint is the wine, so it can be wrong,” she said.
Her materials mirror her values.
Sustainability sits at the centre of her work, with untreated wine used as pigment on natural, 100 per cent cotton, acid-free paper.
The medium itself carries meaning.
“I use a medium that is quite expensive because it’s wine,” she noted, acknowledging its value, especially when transported far from Italy.
To PurpleRyta, wine is never just wine but a memory, labour and culture.
“We are a UNESCO heritage place, history, tradition, culture,” she said of the Langhe region.
“All these things are in a glass of wine. The wine belongs to a winery, the winery belongs to a family and the family belongs to a terroir and so all this is culture.”
Italian artist PurpleRyta and Italian Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco during the third edition of the Gambero Rosso top Italian wines roadshow /HANDOUT
That idea resonated in Nairobi, a city shaped by layers of history and exchange.
PurpleRyta spoke openly about cultural connections, saying life in Langhe exposed her to people from across the world.
She further said Kenyan and Italian artistic cultures are not so different, noting that wine has a way of dissolving boundaries.
Her visit to Kenya therefore carried personal meaning as she said, “I was enthusiastic to come to Kenya because I’ve never been before, and coming here for a good reason that is my heart, it was great.”
She first began painting with wine in 2013, after a moment that shifted her artistic direction.
“A couple from the United States asked me to make a live painting for them. They told me it could be nice to see me painting and this worked,” she recalled.
A city tasted through art
During the programme, PurpleRyta also led a wine-painting workshop, inviting participants into her creative process.
Through guided experimentation, attendees explored the unconventional technique while tasting Italian wines.
The experience was immersive and tactile, aligning seamlessly with the institute’s five-sense theme as she also encouraged young artists to trust themselves.
“I would advise young African artists to believe in their art and in their heart while experimenting with unconventional mediums,” she said.
Asked to imagine Nairobi as a wine, she offered a poetic response, describing the city as versatile, friendly and elegant at the same time.
The second major moment of this cultural exchange unfolded at the third edition of the Gambero Rosso Top Italian Wines Roadshow, held at the Shamba Café in Loresho Ridge.
The roadshow is an exclusive international tour showcasing Italy’s finest wines as featured in the Gambero Rosso Wine and Culinary Guides.
The 2026 edition featured 160 premium wines from 44 Italian wineries and marked the return of participating producers from 2024, underscoring the growing importance of the Kenyan market.
Consumers, importers, restaurateurs and members of the Italian hospitality sector gathered to taste, connect and exchange.
Adding a distinctive artistic layer was PurpleRyta’s live performance.
As guests sampled wines, she painted a canvas not with watercolours or oils, but with wine, turning the tasting into a visual narrative.
Italy’s Ambassador to Kenya, Vincenzo Del Monaco, described wine as a powerful cultural ambassador.
“It is about exchanging and through wine, we also exchange a way of living, a way of looking at life, because around a good glass of Italian wine, we make friends and strengthen bonds,” he said.
Italian artist PurpleRyta showcases her wine on paper artistry at the third edition of the Gambero Rosso Top Italian Wines Roadshow /HANDOUT
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