Urbino, Ascoli Piceno, Falconara-Ancona Airport celebrate the master and the Italian Renaissance
This year the whole of Marche celebrates the 500th anniversary of the death of Raphael, one of the great artists of the Italian Renaissance, born in Urbino in 1520. The many exhibitions organized for the occasion are the perfect excuse to visit this art-filled area.
In his home town, until January 19th, ‘Raphael and the friends of Urbino’ investigates and tells the world of Raphael’s relations with a group of industrious artists. Their artistic dialogue, from different positions and stature, accompanied the master’s transition to the modern manner and its stylistic developments also during the memorable Roman season.
The home of the painter was in a building that was purchased in 1460 by his father, Giovanni Santi humanist, poet, and painter. In it, there is also the workshop where Raphael moved his first steps as an artist, which is now a museum with works and manuscripts related to the life of the artist.
While, in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, it is possible to admire the portrait ‘La Muta’ by Raphael, on show with works by Titian, Piero della Francesca, Orazio Gentileschi, and other masters.
And, until April 13th, it also hosts the exhibition ‘Raphael Ware. The colors of the Renaissance in Urbino‘ with 147 refined Italian Renaissance majolica from the largest private collection of its kind in the world.
Moving to the Falconara-Ancona airport, ‘Raffaello An impossible exhibition’ is on show until January 20th. It presents life-size reproductions of 45 works by the master from Urbino. The original masterpieces are scattered in 17 different countries and therefore normally impossible to see in a single installation.
Once in Ancona it is worth to visit at least the emblem of the city, the Cathedral of San Ciriaco, in Romanesque style with Byzantine and Gothic influences. In Ascoli Piceno, on the other hand, the ‘Rinascimento Marchigiano’ exhibition presents 37 works that have been gathered from the whole of the Marche and restored after the 2016 earthquake.