Ferrara, 37 selected works from the Assicoop Collection in a three-year display

SYNTHONIES. Tra Visioni e Racconti (Between Visions and Tales): inaugurated the three-year exhibition to make available to the public, in the venues of the Casa Romei Museum and the National Archaeological Museum of Ferrara, a selection of 37 works from the private collection of Assicoop Modena&Ferrara.

Alberto Pisa, Giovan Battista Crema, Achille Funi, Gianfranco Goberti, Gaetano Previati, Giovanni Muzzioli: these are just some of the artists from Ferrara and Modena between the 19th and 20th centuries who make up the Assicoop Collection and, within the exhibition itinerary, enter into dialogue with the spaces and works of the two Ferrara state museums, based on iconographic, formal and historical affinities. The exhibition, which represents the core of the public-private collaboration project initiated by the Emilia-Romagna Regional Museums Directorate, Assicoop Modena&Ferrara and Legacoop Estense, is not, therefore, a traditional exhibition, but a real process of dialogue, integration and mediation between works of different provenance and chronology, which allows the two museums to enrich their exhibition proposal with new suggestions and Assicoop to introduce the city to an important part of the local historical-artistic heritage, usually not usable.

The works of the Assicoop Collection will be visible, appropriately marked by a dedicated display, until 2024 within the normal visiting route of the two museums, which can be accessed by paying the normal entrance fee, without any surcharge.

"The work Man in Renaissance Clothing examining a painting by Alberto Pisa opens the visit to the Museum of Casa Romei," explains director Andrea Sardo, “evoking the figure of Giovanni Romei himself and ideally accompanying the visitor on a renewed itinerary, which will allow him to discover unprecedented juxtapositions.” In the Hall of the Sixteenth Century, the common thread of childhood and adolescence will be followed: from Adeodato Malatesta’s nineteenth-century painting, which re-proposes the religious subject of St. John the Baptist, to Giuseppe Graziosi’s sculptures that evoke a playful and vital childhood condition, passing through the adolescent figures of Vittorio Magelli and Ivo Soli, absorbed in a more suspended mental condition. At the National Archaeological Museum it will be Giovan Battista Crema’sAllegoria Marina that will welcome visitors, who along the way will encounter artists such as Achille Boschi, Giovanni Muzzioli, and Mario Vellani Marchi.

“In analyzing the Assicoop Collection,” says museum director Tiziano Trocchi, “we have in fact discovered several works that evoke the imagery of antiquity, portraying figures such as Antigone and Oedipus, the Amazons, Prometheus, and scenes depicting ritual moments such as an offering to the gods or a funeral rite in ancient Greece. In the living room adjoining the Hall of Maps, we wanted to create a display that alludes to the private setting of Assicoop’s corporate offices, which, thanks to the works from the Collection embellishing the walls, evoke the atmosphere of ancient picture galleries.”

“This new setting,” said Giorgio Cozzolino, “which includes the display of works from the Assicoop Collection at our state museums, the National Archaeological Museum of Ferrara and Casa Romei, is an innovative and particularly fruitful form of participation because it strengthens already very fruitful ties and collaborations with the Municipality of Ferrara and all territorial realities, especially the business world and heritage communities. It is a good practice, which makes it possible to make visible an important art collection and, at the same time, enrich and diversify the cultural offer of our museums, which have always been willing to dialogue with new proposals and collections on display.”

“It is a source of pride for us to inaugurate this three-year project in two such prestigious venues,” said Assicoop Modena&Ferrara President Milo Pacchioni. “Finally, works from our Collection will be available to the public for a long period, thanks to the fruitful collaboration with the Emilia-Romagna Regional Museums Directorate. When, more than 20 years ago, we decided to start a path of collecting works of art by artists from Modena and Ferrara of the 19th and 20th centuries, we wanted to preserve in the territory an important part of the local historical artistic heritage. An intent that for us finds full meaning only if this Collection is made available to all citizens. From today, visitors will finally be able to enjoy these works, discovering them inside two of the most beautiful museums in our city.”

“Ferrara’s cooperation continues to invest in initiatives that make our territory more attractive,” said Legacoop Estense President Andrea Benini. “Sintonie represents an effective experiment of public-private collaboration for the enhancement of cultural heritage, in which a private party puts economic resources, tools and expertise to be able to support public realities in the conception of proposals and projects that offer citizens additional opportunities for cultural enjoyment. As of today we have another concrete example of how the cooperative method is useful for the post-Covid restart.”

“Sintonie confirms, once again, the great potential that offers, today more than ever, the collaboration between public and private sectors that, especially in Ferrara, shows examples of effectiveness of great importance,” said Culture Councillor Marco Gulinelli. “And it is precisely thanks to this synergy that from today dozens of works will be exhibited at Casa Romei and the National Archaeological Museum. I like to emphasize with great pride that almost all of these works bear the signature of authors from Emilia, especially from Ferrara. Exhibiting, enhancing, promoting our art is an identity value but it is also a way to show the country the absolute excellence of the authors who are sons of our land.”

In the photo: the set-up. Photo by Giacomo Brini

Ferrara, 37 selected works from the Assicoop Collection in a three-year display

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