A new train of thought

All aboard!

(issue no. 65/2007 / October 18, 2007)
Art exhibit travels by rail

Never seen a Caravaggio? Did you miss De Chirico in Fiesole? Don’t fret. You can catch a glimpse of a plethora of Italian masterpieces by hopping aboard the art train making stops in every major Italian city until early November.

Sponsored by the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato, the exhibit, entitled From Titian to Street Art: 500 years of Italian Art, features 130 priceless art works from the sixteenth century to today. On loan from private collections, the artworks showcased on the itinerant gallery were selected by a special team of curators, each in charge of one of the six carriages that make up the train.

Each carriage features works from different time periods, starting with Titian’s Concert ChampĂȘtre (1509–1510) and Caravaggio’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1595–1596). Don’t miss the eighteenth-century works by Todeschini and Canaletto in the second carriage, or a selection of masterpieces by nineteenth-century painters Antonio Mancino, Giuseppe De Nittis and Giulio Aristide Sartorio in the third. The fourth and fifth carriages contain works by nineteenth-century masters Giulio Turcato, Giorgio De Chirico and Mimmo Rotella. The sixth carriage is dedicated to Italian contemporary art and street art.

The art train, which set off from Rome on October 1, will visit 22 cities before finishing off its nationwide tour in Milan’s Porta Garibaldi station on November 10. The art train pulls into stations for a few days, allowing visitors to appreciate centuries of Italian artistic mastery free of charge.

Head curator of the art train, Antonio Maria Pivetta, hopes that by ‘bringing art to the people’, more families will take advantage of this unique initiative. Only 10 percent of Italians habitually visit galleries, museum and exhibitions. ‘Visitors should represent a vertical section of our society, including all classes and levels of culture and income,’ added Pivetta.


This article comes from the marvellous English language paper The Florentine. You can find it at www.theflorentine.it