Extraordinary discovery in Rome, found 80-square-meter mural by Giacomo Balla thought lost

In Rome, an approximately 80-square-meter mural by Giacomo Balla (Turin, 1871 - Rome, 1958) is coming back to light after about 100 years.
The tempera mural was discovered at 24 Via Milano (on the corner with Via Nazionale), where renovation work was being carried out on the ground floor of a Bank of Italy building. The Bal tic tac, the first futurist cabaret of the 1920s in Rome, founded in 1921 on the initiative of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, once stood on this site.

“An exceptional discovery,” Francesco Prosperetti, superintendent of Fine Arts and Archaeology in Rome, commented to Repubblica. In fact, the mural was thought to have been lost as a result of the various restorations the building underwent during the 20th century. “That this decoration by Giacomo Balla could have withstood time and all the transformations of these premises has something miraculous,” Prosperetti adds. “Talking about the Bal tic tac means talking about a temperament that was unleashed in this city, in which modernity entered in a disruptive way. It is beautiful to discover a century later a Rome at the cutting edge.” The well-preserved murals include colors such as red, yellow and blue painted in the manner of a frame, with the white space presumably used to project films as the venue used to do.

Luigi Donato, head of the bank of Italy’s Real Estate department, commented, “When we found this strong sign of destiny to bring back the Bal tic tac to memory, it seemed to us a duty to look at art as something extraordinary to be preserved and enhanced. Just as we have a remarkable archaeological heritage, we now aim at this enhancement with the same sense of social responsibility.” Indeed, the intention is to open the mural to the public together with the Bank of Italy’s Museum for Monetary and Financial Education, which is scheduled to open in late 2021.

Extraordinary discovery in Rome, found 80-square-meter mural by Giacomo Balla thought lost

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