From 3 August to 12 September 2021, Palazzo Fava. Palazzo delle Esposizioni opens the doors of its second floor with the famous cycles of Jason and Medea – the first documented collective enterprise of Ludovico, Agostino and Annibale Carracci – and the adventures of Aeneas made by Ludovico and his students.
On this occasion the frescoes that revealed to the world the Carracci revolution are put in dialogue with over 30 works including paintings, sculptures and engravings from the collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, some of which are exhibited to the public for the first time: a transversal comparison between eras and styles, in search of thematic or formal affinities between ancient, modern and contemporary works.
With the new exhibition we wanted to rekindle the attention on the frescoes of the Carracci for their disturbing iconography favoring the theme of the human figure between philosophical reflection, existential solitude and social drama, through the delineation of invisible links with the hidden meanings of the myth frescoed in the palace.
In addition to eleven engravings by Giorgio Morandi, twenty works of painting and sculpture, between the Seventeenth and Twentieth centuries, will be arranged on the walls of the five rooms of the tour that is famous for its Sixteenth-century friezes; somewhat rarefied selection of the art and history collections of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna formed over a century, which include, in addition to paintings and sculptures, a considerable amount of drawings and engravings, musical instruments, majolica, embroidery by Aemilia Ars, photographic collections, documentary collections and archival funds.
These works are now available to the community following the purchases that the Fondazione Carisbo has made in the last twenty years on the Italian and international market, thanks to which the Art and History Collections – enhanced by the instrumental entity Museo della Città-Genus Bononiae – have been greatly increased, with a significant opening on the Twentieth century.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book Antico e Moderno. Acquisizioni e donazioni per la storia di Bologna, edited by Angelo Mazza (Bononia University Press).