A Summer Dedicated to Great Italian Manuscripts
Metaphysical Places, Futuristic Light, and Sardinian Threads—from Apulia to Ogliastra
Rome – Anyone looking to spend their vacation in Italy visiting museums has a choice this summer between three very different visual worlds. Giorgio de Chirico, Giacomo Balla, and Maria Lai are the focus of several exhibitions running through the fall—and they take visitors to places that are worth the trip in their own right.
De Chirico, the founder of metaphysical painting with its deserted squares and enigmatic shadows, is featured in three different ways. In Vieste on the Gargano, the municipal museum is presenting more than fifty works from the collection of the artist’s Roman foundation—primarily from his late period—under the title „Ritorno al Mediterraneo“ through the end of September. In Scicli, Sicily, the Museum of Contemporary Art is exploring his Sicilian roots through early November in an exhibition titled „Il sole della Metafisica“; the exhibition is complemented by photographs by several Italian photographers. And on Lake Garda, at the Desenzano Castle, a third exhibition is running through early October.
Giacomo Balla, one of the founders of Futurism, was quite different; his work focused on light, speed, and movement. Through mid-October, the Mart in Rovereto is presenting the complete Biagiotti Cigna Collection for the first time in Italy, including Balla’s largest work, the nearly four-meter-wide „Genio Futurista.“ Five sections trace the artist’s journey from Divisionism through Futurism and Futurist fashion to his late figurative paintings—a rare opportunity to follow this artist’s career in its entirety.
The third artist in the group is Maria Lai, who died in 2013 and was from the Sardinian mountain village of Ulassai. She combined weaving, bread, and thread with conceptual art; she became famous in 1981 when she connected her entire village with a blue ribbon. The Museo Madre in Naples is presenting approximately two hundred works and archival material spanning six decades in an exhibition titled „Essere è tessere,“ running through September 21. In Ulassai itself, to mark its twentieth anniversary, the Stazione dell’Arte Foundation is presenting an exhibition through the end of September that juxtaposes Marc Chagall with Maria Lai—two artists who transformed their home village into an inner visual space.
Those who are already out and about in the cities will find even more to see: In Rome, highlights include an exhibition on Troy and Rome in the Colosseum Park, a Mapplethorpe retrospective at the Ara Pacis, and an exhibition on Ovid at the Galleria Borghese. In Milan, Anselm Kiefer is on display at the Palazzo Reale and Arnaldo Pomodoro at the Gallerie d’Italia. Here’s a practical tip for hot days: The major museums are air-conditioned, and the late afternoon is usually the quietest time to visit.
