Italian Art By Train

Thanks to the Italian national rail company Ferrovie dello Stato, on October 1 a train will set off from the Roma Termini train station headed to 22 Italian cities. This 'art train' contains 130 works from the 16th century to contemporary street art, giving an overview of 500 years of Italian painting. It is a real mobile art gallery that for 40 days will host works by Titan, Caravaggio and Tintoretto, among many others. It is the first time that works from such a large range of time is travelling around the country, since last year the art train’s trip covered only the last 50 years of Italian painting.


From Sicily to Milan, the train will take closer to the people works that are part of private collections. It is made up of six carriages, each created by a different expert and focusing on a separate period. The first carriage contains masterpieces from the 16th and 17th centuries including Titian's "Concert Champêtre" (1509-1510) and Caravaggio's "Rest on The Flight into Egypt" (1595-1596). The second carriage displays works from the 18th century, including Todeschini and Canaletto, while the third includes painters such as Antonio Mancino, Giuseppe De Nittis and Giulio Aristide Sartorio, alkl from the 19th century. The fourth and fifth carriages concentrate on the art of the 20th century, including Giulio Turcato, Giorgio De Chirico and Mimmo Rotella. The end of the train is finally dedicated to contemporary art, including works by Marco Lodola and a selection of street art.


According to Antonio Maria Pivetta, curator-in-chief of the initiative, "The itinerant museum will visit many of the cities that are often geographically penalized from taking part in major cultural events and will take art directly to the heart of the regions". Moreover, "Visitors should represent a vertical section of our society including all classes and levels of culture and income", said Pivetta while explaining that there is no charge to visit the museum-train. It is clearly a way to try to increase the number of people getting in contact with art exhibitions in the country, that currently is as low as 10% of the total Italian population.


The itinerant exhibition will be running until November 10. The organizers expect to have this year around 250,000 visitors aboard the train.