La Spezia, at the Lia Museum the exhibition on the Grand Tour

La Spezia is hosting, from June 15 to October 27, 2024, at the Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, the main exhibition of the year in the city: it is L’Arte di Viaggiare: L’Italia e il Grand Tour, curated by Andrea Marmori with contributions from Barbara Viale and layout by Emanuele Martera, will open its doors to the public tomorrow afternoon, promising to be one of the most important museum events of the year for the city.

The Gulf of La Spezia, though a late destination compared to other Italian cities, became a real natural attraction, so much so that John Ruskin, in 1845, claimed that no other place was “destined for watercolor” as this one. The exhibition thus represents another opportunity to enhance the Lia collection, which dialogues with extraordinary works on loan from all over Italy, including those from the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, the Musei Civici in Padua, the Museum of Rome and the Fondazione Cariplo Art Collection.

Visitors to the exhibition, transforming themselves into grandtourists of the 19th century, can discover the four main stages of the Grand Tour: Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples. The exhibition begins with a portrait of the grandtourist, depicted in Pompeo Batoni’s large canvas from the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Barberini, and illustrates the reasons why young aristocrats embarked on this journey. The exhibition includes some 50 works including paintings, sculptures and objects, occupying the entire museum space. It starts with a core of works directly or indirectly related to the Grand Tour, preserved at the Lia Museum. The section of eighteenth-century paintings presents important figurative episodes illustrating two of the indispensable stages of the eighteenth century: Rome and Venice. The canvases, true luxury postcards, depict truthful glimpses of landscapes, highlighting archaeology in Rome and water and light in Venice, as well as unlikely panoramas concentrating distant monuments for the delight of patrons.

In addition to Rome and Venice, Florence and Naples were must-see destinations for travelers of the time. The monuments observed in these cities became eloquent witnesses to the experiences they had spent. The charms of Herculaneum and Pompeii, for example, gave additional luster to the Bay of Naples. From the mid-19th century, in Pompeii, the documentation of the rediscovered decorative apparatus was entrusted to draftsmen in the service of the Directorate of Excavations. Among them, Vincenzo Loria (1849-1939) produced a conspicuous group of watercolors with a Pompeian theme, now the property of the Musei Civici della Spezia.

Florence was another usual destination for the grandtourist, especially since the late 18th century. An obligatory transit for those who wanted to reach Rome, Florence offered an incomparable Renaissance sampler, and its great museum collections were dutiful stops. In particular, the Uffizi Tribune, with the famous Medici Venus, was a place of great fascination.

Next to the main section of the exhibition is an itinerary illustrating the discovery of and tourist interest in the Gulf of La Spezia and the Riviera. A watercolor by Turner and Girtin, depicting a stretch of the La Spezia Riviera, introduces this section by dialoguing with works from other civic collections. In particular, the collection of paintings by Agostino Fossati, exhibited in the adjoining Palazzina delle Arti, offers another chapter to illustrate the territory and the city.

"TheArt of Travel. Italy and the Grand Tour is a fine exhibition that confirms our A. Lia Museum among the Italian facilities capable of hosting world-class exhibitions," says La Spezia Mayor Pierluigi Peracchini. “The exhibition boasts exceptional masterpieces and prestigious loans, destined to fascinate and attract a wide audience. The exhibition will take us in the footsteps of travelers between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, discovering Italy through cities such as Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples and, later, our Gulf of the Poets: a wonderful opportunity to admire unique works live, to deepen our knowledge of our collections and to walk in the footsteps of the young scions of the European aristocracy, conquered by the beauty of unique places in the world.”

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed every Monday (except Easter Monday), Jan. 1, Aug. 15 and Dec. 25. The ticket office closes at 5:30 p.m. Full 8.50 euros, reduced 7.50 euros (groups from 7 to 25 people, children from 14 to 18 years old, university students who do not have free admission, conventioned), special reduced 5.50 euros (over 70, school groups outside the province of La Spezia, children from 6 to 13 years old), free for university students enrolled in the faculties of Architecture, Letters and Philosophy, Academy of Fine Arts or enrolled in postgraduate or doctoral schools in the same subject areas, companions of groups and schoolchildren, residents of the Municipality of La Spezia on the first Sunday of each even-numbered month, March 19 and December 3, those with a birthday on the day of the museum visit.

Image: Gaspar van Wittel, View of the Quirinal Square, oil on canvas

La Spezia, at the Lia Museum the exhibition on the Grand Tour

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