Carmelina Alberino Carmelina di Capri

Carmelina Di Capri, the pseudonym of Carmelina Alberino, was an Italian painter born in Capri in 1920 and died in Naples in 2004. Closely connected to her native island, she is remembered as a naïf artist who transformed everyday life and the landscape of Capri into direct, sincere, and highly recognizable images. Her simple and authentic personal story helped build the legend of a painter who was, as often described, almost discovered by chance, yet became an important figure in 20th-century Italian art.

Before fully dedicating herself to painting, she worked as a seamstress in the workshop of Adelaide, where she was treated like a member of the family. Coming from a family of fishermen, she grew up in the popular world of Capri, and this background remained central to her artistic production. According to some accounts, she was also noticed by Giorgio de Chirico during one of his visits to the island in the 1950s, an episode that helped reinforce the legend of her artistic discovery.

Carmelina Di Capri held her first exhibition in Rome in 1959 at the La Feluca Gallery. From that point on, her painting received growing appreciation and gained wide recognition, with exhibitions and praise beyond Italy as well. Her works, often devoted to Capri and island life, express the spontaneous and poetic language of naïf painting, marked by vivid colors, narrative immediacy, and a strong local identity.

Over the course of her career, Carmelina Di Capri became known as one of the most prominent voices in Italian naïf painting. Her work is now present in the art market and in auctions, where her paintings continue to attract collectors and scholars. Her connection to Capri, the expressive strength of her style, and her singular biography make Carmelina Di Capri an important name for those searching for information on Italian women painters, naïf art, and postwar painting.