Art Summer in Italy: This Weekend's Must-See Exhibitions
From L’Aquila to Matera – Discoveries Beyond the Major Museums
Rome – Anyone looking to combine a summer weekend with art will find a remarkable selection of exhibitions in Italy right now—spread across the peninsula, often in cities off the beaten path.
In L’Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo—a city severely devastated by an earthquake and since then carefully rebuilt—the Palazzo Benedetti is dedicating a major retrospective to the artist Lea Contestabile. Under the poetic title „Con le mani sporche di terra ti ho baciata,“ the retrospective brings together some fifty works spanning five decades and traces the journey of an artist who has made memory, childhood, and transience her central themes.
To the south, in Matera, Basilicata—home to its famous cave dwellings—the Palazzo Lanfranchi draws visitors with a tribute to photographer Mimmo Jodice. „Mediterraneo“ features more than eighty photographs, many of them historic gelatin-silver prints from the 1980s and 1990s. Jodice’s deserted, tranquil images of the Mediterranean region have long been regarded as icons of Italian photographic history.
The capital itself also has a lot to offer. At the Palazzo Bonaparte, the exhibition „Novecento Italiano“ brings together over fifty works by masters of classical modernism, including Umberto Boccioni and Giorgio de Chirico. Those who prefer something more experimental will find what they’re looking for at the Accademia di San Luca, which is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the painter and Living Theatre founder Julian Beck.
Further north, in Trento, the Galleria Civica explores the vulnerability of Alpine mountain regions in its exhibition „Pietre di pane,“ while in Perugia, the Villa del Colle del Cardinale brings together female perspectives on the figure of St. Francis. An exhibition project on Italian-Japanese cultural dialogue in L’Aquila rounds out the picture.
The range of exhibitions—from classical modernism to masterpieces of photography and contemporary art—shows just how vibrant Italy’s exhibition scene remains, even in the height of summer. For cultural travelers, this is an invitation to venture off the beaten path—and discover Italy’s art in places where you might not necessarily expect to find it.
