CARAVAGGIO IN SICILY AND THE FIGURATIVE ART OF MESSINA FROM THE 12TH TO THE 18TH CENTURY
The MuMe houses works by the greatest masters of Italian art. In addition to the Raising of Lazarus, in which Caravaggio includes a self-portrait, there are paintings by Antonello da Messina and Annibale Carracci, and the original statue of the Neptune fountain by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli
Notices(2)
- FREE TICKETS
Free admission tickets can only be purchased on site.
- FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
On the first Sunday of the month admission to sites in Eastern Sicily is free of charge and tickets will only be issued on site, at the ticket offices. Tickets can only be used on the date/time chosen at the time of purchase.
Services(3)
- Educational Activities
- Info Point
- Official ticket office
Reductions(2)
For REDUCED and FREE tickets, proof of the right to use these tickets will have to be shown. Where the visitor fails to produce such documentation at the ticket office, a FULL-PRICE ticket will have to be purchased.
Reduced
2types- •EU citizens aged between 18 and 25 (the age limit is considered exceeded from the day following the completion of the 25th year of age).
- •Members of FAI
Free
17types- •Visitors under the age of eighteen. Under-twelves must be accompanied by an adult
- •Disabled persons and one family member or companion who can show their membership to health and care services.
- •European Union tourist guides in the exercise of their professional activity, presenting a valid licence issued by the competent authority
- •Tour interpreters from the European Union working alongside the guide, upon presentation of a valid licence issued by the competent authority
- •Permanent staff of the Sicilian Regional Department for Cultural Heritage and Identity
- •Members of I.C.O.M. (International Council of Museums)
- •Groups of students from public and private schools in the European Union accompanied by their teachers, subject to prior booking and within the quota established by venue management
- •Students on advanced training courses at the Ministry's Schools (Central Institute for Restoration. Opificio delle Pietre Dure. Mosaic Restoration School) and courses at the Regional Centre for Planning and Restoration
- •Teachers and students enrolled in Fine Arts Academies or corresponding institutes of the European Union, by showing their enrolment certificate for the current academic year
- •Lecturers and students on degree courses, specialist degree courses or post-graduate specialisation and PhD courses in the following faculties: architecture, conservation of cultural heritage, education sciences or literature and philosophy with an archaeological or historical-artistic focus. The same benefits are due to teachers and students of corresponding universities or courses, present in the European Union States.
- •Journalists who have regularly paid their membership fees, and who present suitable documents proving their professional activity (DDG n.1109 of 7/09/2019 DG-Musei).
- •Operators of volunteer associations working at the premises through agreements with the Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity
- •Teaching staff -permanent school or with a fixed-term contract- of the Italian school, upon presentation of a suitable certificate issued by the educational institutions. The certificate is annual and valid for the academic year in progress.
- •Honorary Inspectors of Cultural Heritage in Sicily
- •Members of the military of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit
- •Members of the I.C.C.R.O.M. (International Centre for the Study of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage)
- •Italian and foreign scholars for study or research purposes certified by Italian or foreign school or university institutions, academies, research and culture institutes as well as by the Ministry, for particular and justified needs, the Directors can allow individual subjects who request it free admission for specific periods.
Duration
2 hours
Description
The Adventures of Caravaggio: from Malta to Sicily
Pursued by a papal death sentence, Caravaggio embarked from Naples for Malta, where he succeeded in becoming a Knight of the Order of the Maltese Cross - a rare privilege - and being imprisoned on the charge of wounding a knight of higher rank. All this in the space of just two years. Having escaped from prison in La Valletta, he took refuge in Sicily, where he sojourned and continued his artistic production between 1608 and 1609. In Messina, he painted the Raising of Lazarus (the painter is said to have portrayed himself in this work as the man with his hands clasped behind Christ's index finger) and the Adoration of the Shepherds (a “poor Nativity” set in a stable, with Mary lying on the ground holding the child in her lap). Both works, recently restored, are on display at the Interdisciplinary Regional Museum of Messina.
The birth of the Interdisciplinary Museum
Founded in 1806, the Museo Civico Peloritano founded its collection on an endowment of paintings from the 14th to the 18th century that had previously been the property of the Messina Senate. The terrible earthquake of 1908 destroyed its premises, which were located in the Messina notary archive and the construction of a new building was entrusted to architect Francesco Valenti, the future Superintendent of Sicilian Monuments. The project contains a very modern architectural rehabilitation concept involving the reuse of the former Basilian monastery of San Salvatore dei Greci and the conversion of the premises of the 19th-century Barbera-Mellinghof spinning mill. After complex bureaucratic and planning issues, the Museum was relocated again, and in 2017 it reopened to the public in a newly built complex on the same site.
The MuMe: from the Hellenistic period to Italian Baroque masterpieces
Inside the MuMe, the exhibition route follows a chronological order signalled by colour codes. The first area is archaeological, presenting prehistoric artefacts and works from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The following rooms display paintings from the Middle Ages onwards: in addition to Caravaggio’s two masterpieces, one can admire works by great masters such as Antonello da Messina (Polyptych of St. Gregory and the Madonna and child giving a benediction and a Franciscan in adoration), Annibale Carracci (Santa Lucia), Girolamo Alibrandi (Last Judgement), Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (the original statue of Neptune, in Michelangelo style, which was previously part of the sculptural complex of the fountain in Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia in Messina).
The wonderful jewellery of Messina goldsmiths
In addition to the Italian masters, jewellery made over the centuries by Messina goldsmiths is also on display at the MuMe. The collection consists mainly of devotional gold pieces from Messina Cathedral - including a magnificent Flowering Branch in gold, pearls, enamels and emeralds from the late 17th century.
An Open-Air Museum
The MuMe is (also) an open-air museum: outside, you can admire stonework from different eras, such as a Hellenistic 'chamber tomb', the original capitals of Messina Cathedral - from the Middle Ages - and the reconstruction of two of the four fountains in Via Cardines.
Forecast
Tour(1)
Blog
Hidden artworks in Disney classics
Who said art and cartoons can't coexist?