Inauguration of the Museo Carlo Bilotti in the Orangery of the Villa Borghese
Thanks to a laborious restoration carried out by the Soprintendency of Cultural Assets of the Municipality of Rome, the Orangery has become a cultural space.
In the seventeenth century it was one of the most precious buildings of the Villa Borghese, known as the House of Water Games and for its theatrical festivities and worldly gatherings. During the French fighting in defence of the Papacy against the Roman Republic in 1849, it was damaged and subsequently was freely reconstructed and fitted out for growing oranges, thus losing all of its valuable decorations.
From the 10th of May it has hosted the gift of the italo-american entrepreneur, Carlo Bilotti, one of the most noted collectors of contemporary art, which comprises 22 works of particular value, including paintings, sculptures and drawings.
The artist best represented in Bilotti’s gift to the city of Rome is Giorgio de Chirico: the Villa Borghese Orangery displays works made by him in the Twenties and Seventies. In addition there are displayed a painting by Gino Severini, a portrait of the collector by Larry Rivers, a high cardinal in bronze by Giacomo Manzù and the portrait of Tina and Lisa Bilotti, the collector’s wife and daughter, created by Andy Warhol.
It is envisaged that the permanant collection, comprising these donated works, will be displayed on the first floor, while the main exhibition hall will be used for temporary exhibitions of international appeal.
The prestige of the building and of the works and of the ambitious program that is planned already make the Orangery one of the most interesting exhibition spaces in Europe.
The initiative is supported by the Municipality of Rome, the Office of Cultural Politics and the Soprintendency of Cultural Assets. It is part of a project to recover and bring out the full value of historical buildings around the city, particularly those inside the Villa Borghese, which will become a park of museums. But, above all, the Museo Carlo Bilotti in the Villa Borghese Orangery is a dynamic space connected to contemporary art, in a context of parkland of unusual beauty and of great international cultural relevance, due to its position close to the Borghese Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art and the House of Cinema. The museum catalogue, produced by Electa, contains essays by Alberta Campitelli Maurizio Calvesi, Claudio Strinati, and Rossella Vodret, amongst others.
