Palazzo Collicola new Exhibitions

This cycle of exhibitions, running throughout the summer until early November 2025, features five new projects: a solo show by internationally renowned artist William Kentridge titled Pensieri fuggitivi (Fugitive Thoughts), curated by Saverio Verini; an exhibition presenting a selection of works from the collection of Primo De Donno; a retrospective of posters from the Festival dei Due Mondi; a solo show by Stefano Cerio titled Corpi d'aria (Bodies of Air); and an exhibition celebrating ten years of activity of the Mahler & LeWitt Studios association, active in Spoleto since 2015.

With this series of events, Palazzo Collicola continues the celebration of its 25th anniversary, a milestone marked throughout 2025 with a rich program of exhibitions and initiatives. Also participating in the summer openings is the Church of Saints John and Paul, one of the venues of the Spoleto Civic Museums, which will host a solo exhibition by Gianni Politi titled Le cose non saranno mai più come prima (del potere anarchico dell'amore) [Things Will Never Be the Same (On the Anarchic Power of Love)], curated by Saverio Verini.
The exhibition program is made possible by the Municipality of Spoleto, in collaboration with the Festival dei Due Mondi, Lia Rumma Gallery, William Kentridge Studio, Fondazione CaRiSpo, Amici di Palazzo Collicola Association, Viaindustriae, Mahler & LeWitt Studios, University of West Georgia, and with the support of Maggioli Cultura e Turismo.

Pensieri fuggitivi (Fugitive Thoughts) is the title of the exhibition by William Kentridge that takes over the Piano Nobile of Palazzo Collicola. Curated by Saverio Verini, Director of the Civic Museums of Spoleto, in collaboration with the William Kentridge Studio and Lia Rumma Gallery, the exhibition features a wide selection of works created by the South African artist—one of the most influential figures in the international contemporary art scene—over the past twenty-five years. This extended time frame allows visitors to grasp the depth, consistency, and evolution of Kentridge's artistic sensibility, offering a broad and multifaceted view of his oeuvre. The exhibition includes drawings, sculptures, videos, prints, and notebooks, composing a rich and nuanced repertoire of over fifty works. The title Pensieri fuggitivi not only references a video work featured in the show (Fugitive Words), but also reflects the conceptual foundation of Kentridge's practice—constantly in motion, where nothing is final and everything holds the potential to spark unexpected connections. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between Palazzo Collicola and the Festival dei Due Mondi. In addition to participating in the Festival's program with his performance The Great Yes, the Great No, William Kentridge also designed the official poster for Spoleto68, adding his name to the long list of internationally renowned artists associated with the event.
The ground floor will host Listen to Your Eyes. Artistic Works and Literatures from a Private Collection, an exhibition showcasing a selection of works from the collection of Primo De Donno—one of the most sophisticated private collections in Italy, housed in Foligno, just a few kilometers from Spoleto. The collection includes works by major figures such as Giorgio de Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Piero Manzoni, Mario Schifano, Alighiero Boetti, Gino De Dominicis, Enzo Cucchi, and extends to artists who emerged in the 1990s such as Vanessa Beecroft and Stefano Arienti. What sets the collection apart is its exceptional assemblage of books, documents, and ephemera accompanying the artworks, which help reconstruct the cultural context in which the works were created and their critical reception over time. Curated by Primo De Donno, Saverio Verini, and Viaindustriae, the exhibition centers on the dual relationship between artworks and the "literature" surrounding them: a journey through key figures and poetics, movements and currents of the 20th century to the present, embracing a century of art history.
Also on the ground floor, Festival dei Due Mondi: Posters 1958–2025 will be on display—a special exhibition section dedicated to the festival's posters created from 1958 to the present day. This exhibition offers a journey through the history of art and the Festival itself, while also serving as a tribute to the city of Spoleto. Balthus, Daniel Buren, Alberto Burri, Enzo Cucchi, Willem De Kooning, Niki de Saint Phalle, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Anish Kapoor, Joan Miró, Luigi Ontani, Cy Twombly, and Emilio Vedova are just some of the major artists who have contributed poster designs over the course of the Festival's 68 editions. The exhibition is made possible thanks to a new collaboration between the Civic Museums of Spoleto, the Festival dei Due Mondi, and the University of West Georgia—an institution that has long maintained a relationship with the city of Spoleto.
On the second floor of Palazzo Collicola, Corpi d'aria (Bodies of Air) will be presented—an exhibition curated by Stefano Chiodi featuring a selection of photographs by Stefano Cerio. The project is part of the public initiative "Strategia Fotografia", promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, with Palazzo Collicola among the selected institutions. Thanks to this initiative, the museum acquired two photographic series by Cerio: Aquila and Brenva. In Aquila (2019–2021), the artist installed inflatable churches, castles, and slides in the landscapes surrounding the city of L'Aquila—devastated by the 2009 earthquake—capturing these surreal interventions in moments of stillness and silence, as if awakening these deserted places through carnival-like structures. In Brenva (2023), named after the famous glacier at the foot of Mont Blanc, now rapidly retreating due to climate change, Cerio constructed an inflatable wall placed where the glacier's edge once stood. This ephemeral structure visualizes the space lost in recent years and symbolically represents the limits of our vision and our inability to foresee the future.
Both projects carry a strong conceptual foundation and lie at the intersection of photography, contemporary art, and environmental art. They bring different artistic languages into dialogue to document the profound transformations of our time.
On the first floor, in the room adjacent to the Carandente Library, Mahler & LeWitt Studios: 10 Years of Activity will be on display—an archival exhibition celebrating the tenth anniversary of the association, curated by Guy Robertson. Active since 2015 in the former studios of Anna Mahler and Sol LeWitt, as well as at the Torre Bonomo, the Mahler & LeWitt Studios have played a vital role in Spoleto's cultural landscape. Over the past decade, the Studios have supported the city's creative life through artist residencies, special projects, and educational programs for schools—all of which will be revisited and documented in the exhibition.
In addition to Palazzo Collicola, the Church of Saints John and Paul—one of the venues of the Spoleto Civic Museums—will host Le cose non saranno mai più come prima (del potere anarchico dell'amore) [Things Will Never Be the Same (On the Anarchic Power of Love)] a contemporary art intervention by Gianni Politi (Rome, 1986), curated by Saverio Verini. Within the former church, Politi will present a series of paintings and two sculptures, engaging in a dialogue with the site's historical function and its layered frescoes. The project creates a dynamic exchange between contemporary artistic language and the sacred, stratified architecture of the space.
Other locations around the city will also come alive with contemporary art and cultural initiatives, thanks to the efforts of prominent local foundations and associations, including the Fondazione Carla Fendi and Mahler & LeWitt Studios. In collaboration with Spoleto68 / Festival dei Due Mondi, they will host The Centre for the Less Good Idea, presenting both an exhibition and a residency program. The exhibition, titled Unhappen Unhappen Unhappen – Pepper's Ghost Dioramas, will feature the premiere of four animated dioramas created using the Pepper's Ghost technique by Anathi Conjwa, William Kentridge, Micca Manganye, and Sabine Theunissen. Pepper's Ghost is a theatrical illusion technique dating back to the Victorian era, and has become one of the signature tools used by the Centre. Founded in Johannesburg, South Africa, by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace, The Centre for the Less Good Idea fosters collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, with a special focus on supporting young artists from across the African continent. The Centre's unique philosophy encourages artists to pursue the so-called "less good idea"—those ideas that initially seem marginal, accidental, or born from creative blocks, but ultimately open up unexpected and generative possibilities. The Centre will share its philosophy and methods through a series of workshops and public events, including a hands-on introduction to the Pepper's Ghost technique, a live composition workshop using silent film archives, and in-depth conversations with the participating artists.