Caravaggio and the Twentieth Century at Villa Bardini, Roberto Longhi, Anna Banti

14 May 2025 Florence

Until July 20, masterpieces and unmissable new works on display

To summarize in a few words the lives of Roberto Longhi, art historian, and Anna Banti, author and translator, would be next to impossible. This is a pair that has permeated the history of the last century. Not only in the field of art, and not exclusively Italian art. The two, married in 1924, lived at Villa Il Tasso in Florence from 1939, developing precious and deep ties with some of the most vivid and promising intellectuals and artists of the 20th century. From Carrà to Guttuso, from Pasolini to Morandi (defined by Longhi himself as "one of the best living painters in Italy"), the exhibition displayed in the splendid setting of Villa Bardini traces the long interweaving of human relationships and exchanges, that is, a fellowship-that between the couple and the artists they frequented-that really seems to be relived, in the large mansion at the foot of Santa Margherita a Montici, among previously unpublished paintings and great masterpieces such as Caravaggio's Ragazzo morso da un ramarro (Boy Bitten by a Lizard) or Jusepe de Ribera's Apostles.

Setting up:

The exhibition at Villa Bardini is divided into 12 sections: not only great pictorial masterpieces but also an intense and exciting photographic reportage in the intimate life of the couple, bound by a faithful and unparalleled love and esteem for each other.

The exhibition itinerary, in which there is also a silent room to let visitors slowly savor the sensations left by the exhibition, is a kind of poetic workshop that merges visual and narrative emotions, sweeping visitors away on a long walk through the twentieth century observed through the delicate, intense eyes of a pair of intellectuals and enthusiasts.

Why visit Villa Bardini? The garden

If you take advantage of a beautiful sunny spring weekend to visit Florence, you absolutely cannot miss a visit to Villa Bardini.

In addition to the exhibition Caravaggio and the Twentieth Century at Villa Bardini, Roberto Longhi, Anna Banti, you will be absolutely amazed by the estate's garden. It is a place rich in charm and history. From the Florentine Baroque (of the 1600s and 1700s) to the Anglo-Chinese of Le Blanc and then to the Victorian, in the 19th century, with the purchase of the villa by Stefano Bardini, referred to as the "prince of antiquarians," in 1913, the garden of the villa takes composite and different forms, mixing elements and unique and iconic for a striking result, making it a real pearl of the city, known and recognized worldwide.

Set in the spectacular Costa San Giorgio, just above the quaint little neighborhood of San Niccolò, Villa Bardini will absolutely deserve a few hours of your time for an in-depth, immersive visit.