Many of Miami’s elite will be in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby this weekend and among the famous, familiar faces will be the giant pink snails that invaded the city during Art Basel. Galleria Ca’ d’Oro in Coral Gables is the gallery that brought Miami the hot pink snails last year in a public art exhibit curated by Gloria Porcella and Lamberto Petrecca. The gallery launched during Art Basel with arguably one of last year’s biggest hits – the snails by the international artist collective Cracking Art Group as part of the Regeneration Art Project. After Art Basel, the snails headed to Coral Gables before making the journey to Kentucky’s 21C Museum Hotel, where they await their debut at the Kentucky Derby 2011.

Some snails unfortunately, or fortunately, had to stay back in Miami after being vandalized during Art Basel. Galleria Ca’ d’Oro took an unfortunate incident and turned it into a charitable opportunity by commissioning Britto and Jemal Wright to give the snails a makeover and put their own spin on them. The two snails were then donated to The Miami Children’s Museum Gala and were auctioned off on April 16 during the gala and purchased by Yolanda Berkowitz (the snail from Britto) and Ugo Colombo (the snail by Jemal Wright).

Galleria Ca’ d’Oro has also been keeping busy with other artists and exhibits since the snails moved on; most recently celebrating its newest exhibit by artist Francesco Lopez with a private cocktail reception on April 15.

Lopez’s colorful photographs are inspired by Rome making Galleria Ca’ d’Oro the perfect home whose main objective is to showcase Italian and European art.  Notable opening night attendees included Christina Termine, Christophe & Eva Poileux, David Hoffmann, Marco Rocca, Tracy Mourning and Yolanda Berkowitz.  Francesco Lopez’s “Visioni di Roma” will be on display through June 15 giving South Florida art lovers plenty of time to check it out and see what this innovative and welcome addition to the art scene is up to now.

Images of the snails redesigned by Britto and Jemal Wright as well as the opening reception of Francesco Lopez’s “Visioni di Roma” can be seen below.

For more information on Galleria Ca’ d’Oro, visit http://ca-doro.com/miami/home.