Passeggiate Romane

An unusual walk through the history of the city. Inspired by Alberto Moravia’s “Roman Tales” (1954) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Roman Stories” (2022), the exhibition borrows its title from Stendhal’s “Promenades dans Rome” (1829) and takes visitors on a journey through time between Rome’s past and present, displaying ancient mosaics, 18th-century paimtings and contemporary works of art.

The scenographic setting conceived for the occasion by Dante Ferretti, a three-time Oscar winner, transforms the MAXXI museum’s spaces designed by Zaha Hadid into a set that hosts works and artefacts from the deposits of three prestigious museum institutions: the Borghese Gallery, La Galleria Nazionale and the Capitoline Museums. The most recent works by artists such as Giuseppe Capogrossi, Christo, Giorgio De Chirico, Gino De Dominicis and Luigi Ontani are flanked by masterpieces such as Canaletto’s vedute (city views) and paintings by Cavalier d’Arpino, and ancient Roman sculptures and mosaics from the Capitoline Museums.

Through an interplay of cross-references and perspectives, the works on display, from different eras and rarely seen by the public, dialogue with contemporary reality and offer an updated look at the present. Dante Ferretti’s evocative reading of the exhibition route places the incredible heritage of the Eternal City in a setting of streets, squares and Roman atmospheres: a single, eclectic tale that embraces ancient beauty and contemporary complexity full of contrasts.