The fourth edition of "In the Center of Rome" is starting

The series of events conceived by Edith Gabrielli returns with a calendar of more than 30 high-profile cultural events and new thematic proposals.

Rome, 24 January 2025 - The new season of "In the Center of Rome", the series conceived by Edith Gabrielli, Director of the VIVE - Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia, is kicking off with a rich program of lectures aimed at an increasingly broad and diverse audience. This is a well-established appointment that makes the VIVE a leading meeting and social venue within the cultural panorama of the Capital.

Now in its fourth edition, the event includes more than 30 meetings at the Sala del Refettorio of Palazzo Venezia - starting on 30 January 2025 - on a weekly basis, involving protagonists from the world of culture of international renown.

Art, architecture, history, archaeology and cultural institutes in Rome, these are the themes at the centre of the review which, this year, is enriched by a new cycle dedicated to philosophy, entitled "Reasons and Passions. From classical Greece to neuroscience", curated by Professor Francesco Ferretti. A significant opportunity to reflect on the relationship between reasons and passions in a contemporary key aimed at a possible conciliation.

"Since its foundation, VIVE has aimed to offer the public a cultural proposal with a high scientific profile and, at the same time, with a strong popular connotation. The great success of the exhibition "In the Center of Rome" is tangible evidence of this commitment. Every week, at the headquarters of Palazzo Venezia, illustrious scholars and great professionals recount their research and work through a plain and comprehensible language. The event, now in its fourth edition, has thus become a regular appointment for residents and all lovers of history, art, architecture, archaeology, philosophy and culture in general", says Edith Gabrielli, Director of VIVE - Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia.

The 2025 edition of "In the Center of Rome" will be inaugurated by the cycle "Ideas and Figures. Stories of innovative strategies for architecture", curated by Professor Orazio Carpenzano. The meeting, entitled "Making the City. Art as an edifying practice", scheduled for Thursday January 30 at 6 p.m. and held by Giorgio de Finis, Artistic Director of the Museo delle Periferie, will focus on the role of art in the construction of urban space from a political and social point of view.

Then, on Thursday, February 6, at 6 p.m., for the cycle "Open Doors. Rome over the centuries, at the center of the world", organized by Professor Francesco Benigno, is scheduled the meeting "The Rome you don't see. Glimpses of Medieval Rome amidst fortresses, towers and porticoes", dedicated to the discovery and interpretation of buildings dated between the 12th and 14th centuries, held by Professor Sandro Carocci.

A new addition to this year's rich program is the cycle "Reintegrations. From the Depots to the Visiting Tour", curated by VIVE Director Edith Gabrielli: five meetings, with related exhibitions, aimed at presenting to the public works from the Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia that were held in the deposits and have now returned to the public eye thanks to the impressive work of cataloging promoted by the VIVE and coordinated by Professor Alessandro Tomei, Professor Barbara Agosti and Professor Valerio Terraroli, respectively for medieval, modern and contemporary art.

The initiative - which has included the creation of an online catalog soon to be available on the VIVE website - is aimed at the knowledge and critical re-evaluation of the works to reintegrate them into the visiting itinerary open to the public. 

The first meeting related to the cycle "Reintegrations", entitled "From Constantinople to Rome: the bronze door of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the fragment in the Palazzo Venezia Museum" and held by Professor Alessandro Tomei, is scheduled for Thursday, February 13, at 6 p.m. in the Refectory Hall of Palazzo Venezia. The focus will be on the fragment of the Byzantine door of the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, depicting a scene from Pentecost, which, in line with the Jubilee Year 2025, will be on display for the occasion in the Altoviti Room of Palazzo Venezia.

The conferences - with free admission subject to availability - are hosted in the Sala del Refettorio of Palazzo Venezia, in via del Plebiscito 118 in Rome.

Booking through the Eventbrite platform is recommended
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/vive-vittoriano-e-palazzo-venezia-46689282103

For further information
https://vive.cultura.gov.it/it/

 

In the Center of Rome: a year-long story

 

HISTORY CYCLE

Open doors. Rome over the centuries, at the centre of the world.

Curated by Francesco Benigno, Professor of Modern History, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa
In collaboration with the Library of Modern and Contemporary History and the Gramsci Foundation

A jubilee year means a year in which we remember a history, that of Rome, at the center of the world religious universe, to the point of making it classically an ‘eternal city’, but also a history of openings, of arrivals and departures, of exchanges. 
The cycle offers a glimpse of a complex history of events, encounters and sometimes clashes, of a world that is different from the present but also extraordinarily topical.

 

ART HISTORY CYCLE

The Arts around the Holy Years

Curated by Silvia Ginzburg, Professor of History of Modern Art, University of Roma Tre

The cycle offers a series of in-depth studies inspired by jubilee years that, in the history of figurative culture, were occasions of extraordinary movements of objects and people, of encounters and exchanges of great impact and relevant artistic commissions, characterized by drives towards renewal or tendencies towards preservation.

The selected years - 1450, 1475, 1600, and 1650 - correspond to conjunctures of particular relevance for art history. By analyzing the works, following the artists' journeys, and re-establishing the connections between episodes and contexts that are today distant, the various scholars will present famous and lesser-known episodes, thus making it possible to investigate the role that these Jubilees played in the development of painting and sculpture, far beyond the spatial and temporal boundaries of the cases investigated.

 

ARCHITECTURE CYCLE

Ideas and figures. Stories of innovative strategies for architecture.

Curated by Orazio Carpenzano, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, "Sapienza" University of Rome


As in previous editions, the cycle continues to explore the not-always-easy relations between theory and the architectural project.

Is architectural culture still capable of offering an interpretative framework for the complex conditions of the present? Does architecture itself feel the responsibility to transmit shared values to the future on environmental issues, ranging from the vulnerability of ecosystems to social inequalities? These questions will be addressed by the protagonists of this cycle who, in various ways and with different perspectives, attempt to combine theoretical reflection and praxis in their design experience and whose works bear witness to research that is essential for understanding the role of Architecture and the nature of architectural design.

 

ARCHAEOLOGY CYCLE

The Second Millennium of Rome

Curated by Paolo Carafa, Professor of Classical Archaeology and Pro-Rector for Archaeological Heritage, "Sapienza" University of Rome

In the incessant flow of the landscapes, the signs of the great events that accompany and condition the becoming of the places inhabited by man always remain imprinted. One of the most far-reaching processes in the history of Western culture - the birth and early development of Christianity - is deeply rooted in the evolution of ancient urban and rural landscapes, leaving traces of it in many places in the center of Rome and outside the city walls.

The architecture and topographical contexts that defined the space and its perception from even very ancient times were progressively joined by new elements that changed the face of the imperial city, contributing to structuring the physiognomy of the early medieval city and all subsequent cities.

 

CULTURAL INSTITUTES CYCLE

An International Capital: Rome and Foreigners

Curated by Marina Formica, Professor of Modern History, University of Rome Tor Vergata

Multiethnic in the imperial age and then, from the 16th century onwards, unanimously recognized as the "plaza del mundo", Rome still today represents a unicum for the exceptional network of foreign institutional presences in the cultural field located in the city.
Successfully launched last year, the cycle continues to investigate the historical and artistic peculiarities of a series of ‘foreign’ communities, highlighting the exchanges that these grafts have determined in the history of the Capital. In particular, the new cycle will present the history of the communities that flowed into the Urbe during the Holy Years, drawing from them cultural and spiritual experiences and conditioning their language, customs, economy, art and history.

 

PHILOSOPHY CYCLE

Reasons and Passions. From classical Greece to neuroscience

Curated by Francesco Ferretti, Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Language Sciences

In the philosophical tradition, reasons and passions have been called into question by two different - and opposing - interpretative paradigms: if, on the one hand, the prevalence of an intellectualist perspective has considered the passions an element extraneous to rational action; it is also true that, especially in the moral sphere, a different philosophical tradition has considered the primacy of reason a false myth, given that human action is guided predominantly by passions and emotions. Despite the opposition between these two different traditions of thought, contemporary reflection - of which this cycle is the spokesman - is characterized by a reconciliatory intent, which is also evidenced by empirical research in the field of cognitive sciences and neuroscience today.

 

COLLECTIONS RESEARCH CYCLE

Reintegrations: from deposits to the visitor route

Curated by Edith Gabrielli, with Alessandro Tomei, Barbara Agosti and Valerio Terraroli

The cycle focuses on and investigates a series of works in the collections of the Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia. These works have come back into focus thanks to the systematic cataloging campaign conducted under the guidance of Alessandro Tomei for the Middle Ages, Barbara Agosti for the Modern Age, and Valerio Terraroli for the 19th and 20th centuries.

The title alludes to the reintegration of these works, now in storage, into the visitor's itinerary now being prepared: this is the case of the fragment of the door of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Filarete's medal depicting Faustina Maggiore and her nuptial pact with Emperor Antoninus Pius, Saturnino Gatti's Madonna of the Walnut, the model of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona and the so-called Shield of Giuseppe Garibaldi by Antonio Ximenes.