Futurism at Desenzano Castle: another exhibition dedicated to the movement

From May 4 to October 26, 2025, the Castle of Desenzano del Garda (Brescia) becomes the stage for the exhibition Mondo Futurista. Curated by historian Giordano Bruno Guerri and MV Arte director Matteo Vanzan, the exhibition offers an overview of the movement that changed the face of modern art, bringing dynamism and innovation to the center of international cultural debate.

It is a tribute to Futurism and a journey that explores how these ideas traversed art history, from its birth in 1909 with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti ’s Manifesto to the 1940s. The setting of the castle, dating back to the 13th century, becomes a key element of this exhibition, giving rise to a confrontation between the solemnity of medieval history and the energy of futurist modernity. The castle itself, with its granitic presence, is transformed from a simple container to an active protagonist.

“Marinetti first spoke of an art ’for everyone,’” argues Giordano Bruno Guerri, curator of the exhibition and president of the Vittoriale, “of a culture to be transferred out of its institutional places, so as to give everyone ’the will to think, to create, to awaken, to renew. Pop art, Andy Warhol, John Cage’s musical explorations, the happenings owe much to him. This exhibition shows in abundance how important, innovative and still alive among us was the movement created by the brilliant Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.” He concludes, “Particularly important is the presence of the sculpture ’Unique Forms of Continuity in Space,’ by Umberto Boccioni, in the specimen of the extraordinary foundryman Francesco Bruni, who kept it for himself and placed it in the garden, where it remained until a year ago. In the fifty years it spent in the open air, oxidized green but stainless to sun, night, rain, lightning, weathering that never stopped the Futurist race, free to enchant us with its astonishing beauty.”

“Presenting an exhibition on Futurism inside a 13th-century castle was an opportunity to create a dialogue between seemingly irreconcilable historical eras,” says Matteo Vanzan, art historian and Director MV Arte, “Futurism, with its celebration of modernity, speed and progress contrasted with the atmosphere of a castle that narrates remote events marked, however, by great transformations and changes. This dialogue made it possible to create a bridge between established historical and cultural traditions and their renewal through a boldness that exalted the disruptive force of art to the point of flowing into life itself. ”Mondo futurista“ therefore aims to be a cross-section on a movement that, seen in its totality, appears not only as an aesthetic and stylistic renewal, but, to all intents and purposes, as a compact and unified ”creed“ in dialogue with a zeitgeist that considerably influenced the very spirituality of all the artists who espoused Marinetti’s ideals.”

A journey from the origins

Mondo Futurista is a narrative that starts in 1901, with the work Il lavacro dell’umanità by Gaetano Previati, and develops over a time span that reaches 1942-1943, with the work Biliardo by Renato di Bosso. A selection of 50 works-ranging from oil on canvas, drawings, preparatory studies, mixed media on paper, sculptures, lithographs and period posters-will accompany visitors along a path that recounts Futurism in all its complexity.

The works that make up the exhibition are some of the most famous, such as Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni, one of the symbols of Futurism, which beautifully expresses the idea of movement and speed, cornerstones of Futurist poetics. Alongside these masterpieces, lesser-known but equally significant works stand out, such as Plinio Nomellini’s Maggio 1915, exhibited at the 1920 Venice Biennale, and Italo Fasulo’s Città Cosmica, exhibited in 1942, which highlight the plurality of expressions and styles within the movement.

Speed as the new beauty

Futurism is a worldview, a true aesthetic revolution. As Marinetti wrote in his famous 1909 manifesto, “We affirm that the magnificence of the world has been enriched with a new beauty: the beauty of speed.” It is an idea that pervades the entire exhibition, from paintings to sculptures to Futurist posters and texts. The beauty of speed becomes an aesthetic principle, but also a reflection on progress, technology and the dynamism of modernity. Works such as Luigi Russolo’s L’Arte dei Rumori, which sought to translate the sounds of modernity into visual and sonic languages, or Fortunato Depero’s Anti Biennale, which rejected artistic conventions, represent the push toward an art that was not only visual, but involved all the senses. In addition, the selection of texts, including the first edition of Mafarka the Futurist and Zang Tumb Tumb, both signed by Marinetti, provides another level of understanding of the movement, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the literary and theoretical aspects of Futurism as well.

Works by artists such as Cesare Andreoni, Giacomo Balla, Anselmo Bucci, Benedetta Cappa Marinetti, and Luigi Bonazza, among others, demonstrate how Futurism was not only a movement of rupture, but also of creating new artistic possibilities, which redefined the concept of art and beauty. In a context that celebrates speed and progress, Mondo Futurista is an opportunity to also rethink current events and our relationship to change in a world that continues to move at dizzying speed.

The exhibition Mondo Futurista is promoted by the Culture Department of the City of Desenzano del Garda and organized by MV Arte, in collaboration with the Culture Office of the City of Desenzano. Its realization is supported by important sponsors, including the Ministry of Culture, Lombardy Region, Province of Brescia and GardaMusei. An exhibition itinerary that not only recounts a fundamental historical period for art, but also invites every visitor to question the link between past and future, between art and modernity.

Futurism at Desenzano Castle: another exhibition dedicated to the movement

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