Between historic buildings and futuristic architecture, in this itinerary we will follow the tracks of a modern universe that looks to the future and amazes with its avant-garde cultural centres, unusual art installations, contemporary art exhibitions, design and new trends.
Discover the stages of this extraordinary journey through contemporary art in Emilia, in the territory of Parma, Piacenza and Reggio Emilia.
The itinerary starts from the city of Piacenza, where the contemporary scene is dominated by the Ricci Oddi Gallery, where the famous and mysterious Portrait of a Lady by Gustav Klimt, which disappeared in 1997 and was later found in 2019, is exhibited.
This is just one of the many paintings to admire when visiting the Gallery, which also includes works by Boldini, Boccioni and Casorati.
Staying in town, the XNL Piacenza space - a centre for contemporary art, cinema, theatre and music - offers a combination of different languages and experiential activities.
Also worth a visit is Volumnia, a place of art and culture created inside the Church of Sant'Agostino, a building regenerated by the intuition of gallery owner Enrica De Micheli. It is a deconsecrated basilica, one of the most majestic in the city.
The Museo della Merda in Castelbosco is one of a kind.
A name that may be alienating, but which in reality encapsulates a cutting-edge reality, also from an ecological point of view.
The dung from the cattle that produce Grana Padano cheese is transformed here into sustainable electricity and art forms, the protagonists of exhibitions and installations to be discovered.
We recommend continuing the journey to San Pietro in Cerro, where the attic of the 15th-century castle houses the MIM - Museum in Motion.
The museum houses the contemporary art collection of the Spaggiari family: more than 1,600 works of various genres shown to the public in rotation. The collection spans the many contemporary trends and dedicates part of the exhibition space to emerging artists.
Moving on to another historical site, we arrive in Bobbio, at the ancient monastery of San Colombano, which houses a true temple of contemporary art: the Mazzolini Collection Museum.
This is the union of the artistic heritage of the Mazzolini collector with that inherited from the Simonetti doctors, who had received many donations from their patients in exchange for medical care.
Moving away from Piacenza we come to Parma, specifically to the Abbey of Valserena, where the collection of the CSAC, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione is located.
The archive-museum contains a heritage of millions of works of art, photography, media, fashion, design and entertainment.
An innovative cultural and museum centre is also the APE Parma Museo, acronym for Arts, Performance and Events. Located in a prestigious building in the historic centre, the Museum, in addition to important temporary exhibitions, hosts museum rooms dedicated to Amedeo Bocchi and Renato Vernizzi.
Also in the old town centre, Palazzo Tarasconi, a building of great historical value that has been completely renovated and hosts exhibitions by contemporary artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Bansky, is also worth a visit.
Continuing our walk through the centre of Parma, we reach the imposing Complesso della Pilotta.
Here, ancient and contemporary art come together thanks to Nannucci's light installation 'Time past, present and future' placed along the sides of the main courtyard. It is a celebration of the regeneration of values through the cultural and creative action of the present.
The journey continues just outside the city of Parma, in Mamiano di Traversetolo where the Villa dei Capolavori is home to the Magnani Rocca Foundation, which houses works by artists such as Burri, Fontana, Monet and Morandi, as well as temporary exhibitions.
If you have chosen to reach the Magnani Rocca Foundation by bicycle, we propose another ideal bike route for art lovers: the Torrechiara Art Trail.
From the romantic Torrechiara Castle you can access an art itinerary, where contemporary installations are integrated into the landscape.
Our itinerary to discover contemporary art could only continue in Reggio Emilia, the Emilian city that is a symbol of contemporary arts.
Among its symbols are the three bridges designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, whose elegant architecture and large white sails draw attention to the city centre. Another example of Calatrava's architectural lines is the Mediopadana high-speed railway station, which incorporates railway tracks and commercial spaces.
One of the most important private collections of contemporary art in Italy, the Collezione Maramotti presents over 200 works on permanent display, ranging from the Expressionism and Abstractionism of the 1940s to Pop Art, Arte Povera, Transavantgarde and the American New Geometry of the 1980s and 1990s.
The Collection also hosts temporary exhibitions of great interest and organises guided tours.
The last proposed stops on this itinerary are: the work "Whirls and Twirls 1", a perfect union between architecture and art, designed by Sol LeWitt for the vault of the reading room of the 18th-century Panizzi Library; the Cloisters of San Pietro, in the heart of Reggio Emilia, where ancient rooms transformed into exhibition venues host cultural events such as Fotografia Europea, an international festival reflecting on the complexities of contemporaneity; and finally, the historic 16th-century Palazzo Magnani, which is a further reference point for futuristic exhibitions.
