From October 10th to November 30th 2025, the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta will host the exhibition Bella figura. Pittura italiana d’oggi (Bella figura. Contemporary italian painting), promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta.

Through a selection of 43 figurative paintings, all created by living artists, the exhibition bears witness to the vitality of contemporary painting and affirms the centrality of the human figure in the history and current events of Italian art.

Adriano Annino, Chiara Baima Poma, Chiara Calore, Omar Galliani, Daniele Galliano, Giovanni Gasparro, Ester Grossi, Giuliano Guatta, Miriana Lallo, Giulia Mangoni, Fulvia Mendini, Rocco Normanno, Rodolfo Papa, Mauro Reggio, Enrico Robusti, Lorenzo Tonda, Nicola Verlato, Daniele Vezzani are the artists invited to offer their personal vision of the “Bella Figura”, understood as the synthesis of harmony, order and proportion which, in various forms, all aimed at human representation, has characterised Italian culture from the Renaissance to the present day, thus triggering a dialogue between past and present.

The exhibition, curated by Camillo Langone, will be set up in the Renaissance spaces of the Voltoni del Guazzatoio and will be open to the public free of charge.

The exhibition itinerary

It is divided into two sections, the Modern and the Eternal, to which are added two specialised sections, Portrait and Sacred Art:

  • The Modern section brings together works that look to the document, to today’s icons, those paintings that in the future, in the museums of the 22nd century, will represent our time.

  • The Eternal section brings together works that refer to classicism, myth, religion and archetypes.

  • Portrait brings together works that are the quintessential expression of man, those that reproduce and interpret his appearance and individuality, placing him at the centre of the work and therefore of his world.

  • Sacred Art, on the other hand, will represent the new forms of religious painting, in the difficult but possible balance between artistic research and devotional needs.

The paintings, all very recent, if not created specifically for the exhibition, express classical and Christian roots, which have built the cultural and aesthetic basis on which they rest, but at the same time are fully representative of contemporaneity, of the Spirit of the Times, with subjects, scenes, contexts, themes and techniques that express today’s sensibility.

The exhibition project follows and completes the series of acquisitions planned by the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta, whose patronage, which began under the Farnese family and has never ceased, is renewed through the addition of some of the works on display to its Collection.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Grafiche Step.