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Ugo Carrega (1935, Genoa, Italy – 2014, Milan, Italy) was an Italian poet, artist, and cultural organizer whose work bridged writing, visual art, and conceptual practices. A central figure in the development of visual poetry in postwar Italy, Carrega is best remembered for formulating the theory of "New Writing" (Nuova Scrittura)—a hybrid language that blurred the line between text and image, poetry and art. Carrega began his artistic journey in the late 1950s, collaborating with poet and publisher Martino Oberto on the experimental journal Ana eccetera, where he first began exploring the intersection of verbal signs and graphic form. This period laid the groundwork for his early theory of “symbiotic writing,” in which linguistic and visual codes interact as equal parts of a single compositional system. By the mid-1960s, Carrega had relocated to Milan, where he became a driving force in the city’s avant-garde scene. There, he established multiple independent spaces dedicated to the research and promotion of interdisciplinary art: Centro Suolo (1969), Centro Tool (1971), and Mercato del Sale (1974). These centers functioned as both exhibition venues and publishing hubs, cultivating a vibrant network of artists, poets, and critics from across Europe and beyond. Carrega was in dialogue with the Fluxus movement during its formative years. While not a formal member, he shared its ethos of dematerialization, anti-institutional critique, and the merging of life and art. He collaborated and exchanged ideas with many Fluxus-affiliated artists, including Francesco Conz, Ben Vautier, Emmett Williams, and Dick Higgins. Through this constellation, Carrega’s work became part of a broader international conversation on experimental language and media. In parallel to his curatorial and theoretical activities, Carrega published a series of journals and manifestos—Tool, Bollettino Tool, and aaa—that functioned as vital platforms for the dissemination of concrete and visual poetry. His editorial projects brought together artists working at the limits of written language, from Italian neo-avant-garde poets to international conceptual artists. Throughout his career, Carrega participated in key exhibitions dedicated to experimental poetics and visual art, including documenta 6 in Kassel (1977), which foregrounded the role of language in contemporary practice. His artworks—ranging from typewritten poems to collages and conceptual diagrams—continue to be exhibited and collected by institutions invested in the history of intermedia art. Ugo Carrega’s legacy lies in his unwavering belief in the power of language as a visual, performative, and conceptual tool. His pioneering work expanded the scope of what poetry could be, aligning him with global avant-garde movements while maintaining a uniquely Italian sensibility rooted in both literature and visual experimentation.