If Rome enchants and fascinates visitors with the beauty of the Baroque and of its antiquities, for me its most appealing attraction is always the National Gallery. Whenever I am in the city, I reach it on foot, cutting across the Villa Borghese gardens, and treat myself to a tour of what I consider the most beautiful museum in Italy.

A visit to the National Gallery is like a journey back in time through the main artistic currents marking the 19th and 20th centuries, from Neoclassicism to Impressionism, from Divisionism to the historical Avant-gardes, from Futurism to Surrealism, up to the experiences of the Roman School.

The current arrangement of the collections, conceived as an exhibition on the theme of time, branches out into simultaneous paths in which the works are juxtaposed for similarities, contrasts, references and quotations. Even the building itself, designed by Cesare Bazzani, is protagonist of this reinterpretation, establishing a dialogue between present and past: an almost archaeological method has brought it back to its original splendor. In fact, the aim was to recover the original functionality of the building as a whole, with the intention of assigning a specific task to each space in order to valorize the museum, even as an instrument of urban planning.

Before ending my visit, I always pause for a few minutes in front of one of the museum’s masterpieces: Luci a Venezia by Tancredi Parmeggiani.