Rome's Palazzo Barberini hosts unforgettable Caravaggio exhibit

A total of 24 masterworks by Caravaggio will be showcased at Rome's Palazzo Barberini until July 6.

With a total of 60,000 tickets sold prior to its opening, the exhibit 'Caravaggio 2025' at Palazzo Barberini's Gallerie Nazionali is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, CE Report quotes ANSA.

It is curated by Francesca Cappelletti, Maria Cristina Terzaghi and Thomas Clement Salomon.

The masterpieces on display include the newfound Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, which was showcased for the first time only a few months ago; Ecce Homo, currently displayed at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid which returns to Italy from Spain after four centuries; two St John the Baptist paintings that will be showcased for the first time on the same wall.

Also on display will be he Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, a masterpiece that was once part the Barberini collection and Martha and Mary Magdalene from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

"Each painting by Caravaggio is a star and each loan is an extradition", said the director of Palazzo Barberini, Thomas Clement Salomon.

Clement Salomon said the exhibit represents a "dream" for him which was organized "in record time, just a year".

The director of the Borghese Gallery Francesca Cappelletti said the exhibit featured "exceptional loans" such as the David with the Head of Goliath.

The star show of the Jubilee Year will also include the possibility of visiting a 25th masterwork by Caravaggio, his only mural painting - Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (1597) - at the Casino dell'Aurora, in a rarite occasion, the organizers said.