Two quite different exhibitions by notable Italian visual artists are attracting attention in Rome this summer, and while neither superstar is an exemplar of humility, the quieter of the two shows is the far more satisfying.
Caravaggio 2025, the summer’s art blockbuster at the Palazzo Barberini, has proved so successful that its run, due to expire on July 6, has just been extended until July 20. The show of 23 masterpieces by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the Milanese painter who did his greatest work in Rome before expiring himself at age 38 in circumstances best described as murky, has already been seen by more than four hundred thousand. And that’s precisely its problem.
The crowds are so overwhelming, they overwhelm the work—much of which art aficionados have likely already experienced under far less trying circumstances. Instead of a chance to appreciate greatness, the show is a bucket list check-off, an Instagram moment, perhaps, but IRL, a murky, underlit slog that demands you push and prod, shoulder and elbow your way through the masses—many with cell phones held aloft, course—to get close enough to briefly see what you’ve ostensibly come for. But at least you can say, I was there.
Now consider Horizons: Red, the opening exhibit at a brand-new space, PM23 at 23 Piazza Mignanelli, home of the Foundation Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, run by the now-retired partners behind the Valentino fashion brand. First, consider the space: a late-Renaissance palace steps from the Piazza di Spagna. Built for a noble family in the late 16th Century, it became the property of the Holy See two hundred years later, and more recently, Valentino took it over, making it the brand’s headquarters (though couture clients long used a more discreet entrance on via Gregoriana, a narrow street atop the Spanish Steps). Long private, it now enters a new, public role.
PM23’s ambitions are anything but humble. It describes its home as “not just a place, but an act of cultural will…a hotbed of ideas,” and launched it with “an exhibition that combines the instinctiveness of a select number of 20th century artists with the mastery of high fashion creations.” Put that on and wear it!
The show, now extended until October 20th, was curated by Pamela Golbin and Anna Coliva, the first the just-retired chief curator of fashion and textile at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris; the second, the long-time Director of Rome’s Galleria Borghese. It mixes and matches fifty Valentino gowns created over seven decades, all in his signature color, red, in dialogue with a stunning array of thirty art works by Cy Twombley, Mark Rothko, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, Lucio Fontana and others.
Despite its artistic firepower, the show was lightly attended the day Carnet de Voyage stopped by, allowing communion, attention to detail—like the immaculate hand-stitching of a couture creation—thoughtful appreciation of pieces of art usually hidden in private collections, and, in the heat of a Roman summer day, an oasis of cool, calm contemplation.
Caravaggio and Valentino are both world-class brands. But on this visit to Rome, one appeared, sadly, as a mass market product; the other, delightfully, as a special, nuanced treasure for discerning connoisseurs.