We find it hard to believe that it has been 20 years.
Our first endeavor was a small Italian trattoria called
Pizza Joe!. It was funded by securing a loan on the
only possession left in Michigan: a seven year old DeLorean.
In a few short weeks we were able to buy our pizza oven,
build our work, scrub the floors
with a tooth brush, and watch over our three year old
daughter sleeping in the corner. We were lucky that
the third day we opened we had line ups, which was surprising
as we had not advertised. Much of the success was due
to the recommendation of locals and tourists. But our
biggest supporters back then were the Alaska Airlines
employees, who also celebrated 20 years of flying to
Vallarta this past November. The flight attendants and
pilots found us our first day in business and over the
next 2 years even announced over the in-flight intercom
that their favorite restaurant in PV was Pizza Joe!.
So you may ask how we got into the gallery business.
We decorated our little restaurant with art that we
had collected from Italy and Greece. It was because
of the interest in our art collection that we felt we
could successfully open an art gallery. We started with
the sale of classical European and pre-Columbian reproductions,
as well as a few local sculptors. After being a sculpture
gallery for many years, we slowly started to add painters.
We have been fortunate to work with many talented artists,
so the gallery continues to expand, and paintings and
sculptures now equally divide the space.
Galleria Dante, now in its 14th season, is recognized
as Vallarta's largest fine art gallery and sculpture
garden. We are grateful to our friends, clients and
artists who helped us to make the gallery what it is
today.
Joe and Claire Guarniere
Galleria de Ollas
Basilio Badillo 269, Puerto
Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico 48380
Phone:(1152)-322-22-22477 Local Cel 044-322-229-6648
