Rome’s MAXXI to open art museum in L’Aquila in October

MAXXI L’Aquila, a new contemporary art museum under the umbrella of Rome’s Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, is set to open in the Abruzzo capital L’Aquila on October 30th.

Located at Palazzo Ardinghelli (an 18th-century Baroque building, formerly the home of culture ministry offices) which has undergone extensive restoration since L’Aquila’s devastating earthquake in April 2009, with the financial support from the government of Russia.

On July 21st the culture ministry entrusted the museum to MAXXI, president Giovanna Melandri referred to the reopening as a”double rebirth”, following the devastation of the earthquake and the coronavirus lockdown.

The opening show will include works by emerging Russian artist Anastasia Potemkina who was chosen in collaboration with L’Aquila’s Fine Arts Academy and the V-A-C Foundation in Moscow “as a first step to enhance the dialogue between Russian and Italian artists”.

Also on show, works by Elisabetta Benassi, Daniela De Lorenzo, Alberto Garutti, Nunzio and Ettore Spalletti, alongside images by Italian photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin and the Paris-based photographer and video artist Stefano Cerio.