The Baths of Caracalla host large photographs by Letizia Battaglia. And they open two new rooms

Opening on May 27, 2023 at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome is the exhibition Letizia Battaglia Senza Fine, open until November 5, 2023. A tribute to the Sicilian photographer, promoted by the Special Superintendence of Rome directed by Daniela Porro, organized by Electa in collaboration with theLetizia Battaglia Archive and the Falcone Foundation for the Arts, and curated by Paolo Falcone.

A selection of ninety-two large-format photographs aims to summarize fifty years of Letizia Battaglia ’s photographic work (1971-2020) with iconic, lesser-known or previously unpublished images. The exhibition allows itself to be discovered through a visit to the monument: to a narrative focus inside the monumental natatio, the Baths of Caracalla add with this exhibition two new rooms where other photographic nuclei are displayed.

“With this exhibition, the spaces of enjoyment for visitors are expanded,” said Mirella Serlorenzi, director of the site. “The Superintendence has restored an original entrance to the western gymnasium and in the other room, with the pool, identified the heating system and a fragment of geometric mosaic. The ongoing restoration work at the Baths of Caracalla is an opportunity for study, research and discovery about this incredible monument.”

“Letizia Battaglia represents an exemplary combination of civic engagement, social feeling and artistic gaze,” explains Daniela Porro, Special Superintendent of Rome. “On the thirtieth anniversary of the attacks on San Giovanni in Laterano and San Giorgio al Velabro, the Superintendence dedicates this exhibition to her, inaugurating to fruition two new rooms of the Baths of Caracalla, to demonstrate how her images tell the full story of an era by entering fully into the history of photography.”

“This new project maintains the tradition of composing a unique, athematic, timeless and hierarchy-free work where iconic photographs, travel notes, daily life build an open narrative to know and discover the many aspects of Letizia Battaglia,” explained the curator. “And her greatness . A constellation of photographs where love and pain, sweetness and drama, passion and commitment, tell moments of our history.”

The exhibition inside the archaeological area benefits from a display that pays tribute to another great artist: the architect Lina Bo Bardi. She is responsible for the tempered glass plate displays at the Museo de Arte de São Paulo in Brazil. Her famous cavaletes of 1968 inspired the display structures of Letizia Battaglia’s photographs.

The initiative is part of the Caracalla Festival 2023 of the Teatro dell’Opera, so on July 25 and 28 and August 1 at the Teatro del Portico there will be meetings dedicated to Letizia Battaglia and the anniversary of the assassination attempt. On this occasion the volume Letizia Battaglia Senza Fine, published by Electa, dedicated to the Sicilian photographer, will be presented.

“I am particularly excited,” said Francesco Giambrone, Superintendent of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, “that the Caracalla Festival 2023 will host the exhibition of Letizia Battaglia, who has dedicated her entire life to civil and political commitment and to photography. Rediscovering her works in such a wonderful space as the Terme di Caracalla will be like paying her a grateful and moved tribute.”

The exhibition also provides an opportunity to remember the 30th anniversary of the bombings at San Giovanni in Laterano and San Giorgio al Velabro in Rome, which occurred on the night of July 27-28, 1993. A wound in the heart of the historic city, which ties in with the photographer’s best-known images, those of the Mafia war of the 1970s and 1980s, one of the bloodiest, most poignant and dramatic pages of Sicily, but above all with the spirit of Letizia Battaglia, who has always looked to photography as a tool for intervention and social denunciation.

Hours: Through Sept. 30 from 9 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. Closed Mondays. Open Friday, June 2.

Photo exhibition set-up: F. Caricchia for SSAPAB

The Baths of Caracalla host large photographs by Letizia Battaglia. And they open two new rooms

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.