An exhibition in Clusone dedicated to Clara Maffei, heroine of the Italian Risorgimento

Until October 13, 2024, the MAT - Museo Arte Tempo in Clusone, in the province of Bergamo, is hosting a documentary exhibition dedicated to Clara Maffei, a heroine of the Italian Risorgimento. Organized by the Municipality of Clusone and the Clara Maffei Committee, the exhibition entitled Clara Maffei in Clusone. A Friend on Full Trial, curated by Claudio Rota and Irene Ferretti, presents an important selection of works including paintings, documents, letters and objects to tell the story of the complex life of the Countess, a patriot, restless and elegant protagonist of one of the most famous salons of the time, and in particular her relationship with the City of Clusone, a place where she owned a house and which she loved deeply throughout her life.

Educated, intelligent and refined, the Bergamasque Clara Maffei created in her Milanese salon a meeting point for the most important exponents of art and literature of the time, all of whom shared an openness to the growing patriotic climate. During the Five Days of Milan, he moved to Locarno, where he had the opportunity to meet Giuseppe Mazzini. It was his intervention that allowed, for the first and only time, a meeting with Giuseppe Verdi. Clara Maffei offered her unconditional support to the national uprisings in an Italy still under Austrian rule and yet to be built. Back in Milan, she reopened her salon to the literati and artists of the time, forging deep bonds of friendship with many of them, including Milanese patriot Carlo Tenca.

Among the works on display in the exhibition are precious testimonies that, together with an extraordinary portrait by Francesco Hayez, restore an atmosphere between Romanticism and Risorgimento struggles, between the actuality of the historical figure and the need to reinterpret our identity.

“The project concerning Countess Clara Maffei is a further step in the path of rediscovery and enhancement of the great figures who have made the history of our City. As an Administration we cannot but be proud of the goals achieved, also thanks to the contribution of external actors such as the Clara Maffei Committee to whom my thanks go,” said Clusone Mayor Massimo Morstabilini.

“Clara Maffei was a figure who left an indelible mark on the history of our City and our country,” said Alessandra Tonsi, Councillor delegated to Culture, Youth Policies, and Events of the City of Clusone. “This initiative is the crowning achievement of those proposals dedicated last year to the figure of the contessina, which saw the participation of various entities in the area that have committed themselves with dedication, intending to return to Clara the care that she gave to Clusone. Special thanks to the Clara Maffei Committee and the CRA of Piario. This is a tribute to an extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to the ideal of a free and united Italy, which can still be an inspiration today.”

“A certain tarnishing of the image of Countess Clara Maffei began after the unification of Italy, when a new generation of intellectuals took over from the heroes of the Risorgimento, and the decline in the twentieth century continued until the Countess was confined among the relics of a bygone era and in the verses of Guido Gozzano’s ’L’amica di nonna Speranza.’ Today, new studies on her person, on the cultural circle that saw her as a protagonist, on her own physical image lost in oleographs, are bringing to the surface an extraordinary woman who knew how to make friendship and relationships her guide during such troubled and mournful periods as those of our wars of independence,” explained Claudio Rota, curator of the exhibition and chairman of the Clara Maffei Committee. “Thanks to these discoveries and in conjunction with them, the Clara Maffei in Clusone project was born. A Friend on Full Trial, which seeks to describe and reframe a character so complex and decisive for Italian identity.”

The exhibition is accompanied by free guided tours (Sept. 22 at 4 p.m.) and thematic activities for children related to the exhibition (Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. creative workshop for children ages 5 to 11; free participation, with reservations required via email matclusone@gmail.com).

The Clara Maffei Committee has also promoted three paths that feature Countess Clara Maffei as a protagonist: one of a cultural and scientific nature for the creation of historical-artistic exhibitions, the making of films, concerts and presentation of books and lectures that focus on the reinterpretation of the person of Clara Maffei, of which the exhibition is a part; a path of building a social network around a cultural welfare project, which sees the participation of some protagonists of the territory of the Upper Seriana Valley, as well as the support of Consorzio R.I.B.E.S; the confluence of the two paths in the restoration project of Clara Maffei’s funeral monument placed at the Monumental Cemetery in Milan).

Free admission

Opening hours: Fridays: 3:30-6:30 p.m. | Saturdays and Sundays: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. / 3:30-6:30 p.m. - until Aug. 25 also open Monday through Thursday from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

For info and opening hours: https://www.museoartetempo.it/

An exhibition in Clusone dedicated to Clara Maffei, heroine of the Italian Risorgimento

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