ROME.- From February 11 to May 18, 2025, the Musei Capitolini at Villa Caffarelli will host the exhibition "The Farnese in 16th Century Rome: Origins and Fortune of a Collection." Curated by Claudio Parisi Presicce and Chiara Rabbi Bernard, this landmark exhibition is a key event organized by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina as part of the "#Amanotesa" project (PNRR CAPUT MUNDI), which aims to promote social inclusion through enhanced cultural offerings.
The exhibition focuses on the period of profound urban transformation in Rome initiated by Paul III Farnese (reign 1534-1549). Following the devastating Sack of Rome in 1527, the city faced the need for rapid and vigorous revitalization. Under Pope Farnese's impetus, several grand projects were undertaken, including the monumental redesign of the Piazza del Campidoglio, entrusted to the genius of Michelangelo. The famous bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, moved to the Capitoline Hill from Piazza del Laterano in 1538 by the Pope's decree, became the square's centerpiece. Around it, as a symbol of Rome's glorious past, Michelangelo designed a dramatic and monumental backdrop.
Fascinated by the art and antiquities collected by the Farnese? Explore the masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture with this beautifully illustrated guide.
Paul III also initiated the most important art and antiquity collection in 16th-century Rome. In 1545-1546, several colossal marble statues, including the Farnese Hercules, Bull, and Flora, were discovered in the Baths of Caracalla. These statues were immediately moved to the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in Campo de' Fiori.
Upon the Pope's death, the collection was inherited by his grandson Alessandro (1520-1589), who transformed the Palazzo Farnese into a highly refined residence, a supreme expression of Farnese power in Rome. The Palazzo housed sculptures, inscriptions, ancient gems, precious furnishings, drawings, engravings, paintings, and frescoes by leading artists of the time, including Titian and the Carracci brothers.
While the monumental Campidoglio designed by Michelangelo represents the "public" impact of the Farnese family, the Palazzo in Campo de' Fiori embodies their private power.
Hosting an exhibition on the Farnese collection at the Musei Capitolini (Villa Caffarelli) provides a valuable opportunity to present and explain this dynamic between public and private spheres during a period that, while seemingly distant (the mid-16th century), resonates with contemporary issues. Just as in the 1540s, on the eve of the Jubilee proclaimed by Paul III, Rome is once again undergoing renewal, driven by the need for change and transformation amid numerous conflicts and uncertainties.
Organized into six sections, the exhibition, housed in the exhibition spaces of Villa Caffarelli, is the result of extensive loan collaborations with numerous Italian and international museums.
The exhibition begins by presenting, through maps and engravings, the urban transformations undertaken in the city on the eve of the 1550 Jubilee. A comparison between the bronze Camillus from the Capitoline collections, part of the group of Lateran bronzes donated to the "Roman People" by Sixtus IV in 1471, and its bronze copy made by Guglielmo della Porta for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in the 1560s, provides an initial reflection on the relationship between public and private collections.
A remarkable gallery of portraits of the key figures of the collection during its peak, from Pope Paul III to his grandsons Alessandro and Ottavio (1524-1586), follows.
The large marble sculptures discovered in the Baths of Caracalla, among the first ancient sculptures to be placed in the courtyard of Palazzo Farnese in Campo de' Fiori, are evoked by precious bronze statuettes, drawings, and engravings in the section titled "The Farnese and the Passion for Antiquity."
Visitors are then invited to "enter" the original arrangement of the ancient Palazzo Farnese collection, walking through the "Hall of Philosophers," characterized in the 16th century by the presence of statues such as the famous Venus Callipigia from the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, and the splendid Gallery frescoed by the Carracci, evoked here by important preparatory drawings for the frescoes and some of the most important sculptures displayed in the grand reception hall, now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, which are returning to Rome after their transfer in the last decade of the 18th century.
The virtual tour inside the Palazzo continues with the reconstruction of the "Camerino" and the Picture Gallery of Palazzo Farnese. The exhibition concludes with a room dedicated to a comparison between two collections, the Farnese and the Orsini, belonging to the famous antiquarian close to the noble family, both sharing a common destiny of dispersal.
The exhibition, curated by Claudio Parisi Presicce and Chiara Rabbi Bernard, is promoted by Roma Capitale, the Department of Culture, and the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali and organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura in collaboration with Civita Mostre e Musei.
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