On Thursday 26 February, the catalogue of the exhibition “Light from Italy: from Fattori to Morandi” was presented at the Latvian National Museum of Art. The initiative, promoted and supported by the Embassy of Italy in Riga, marks the conclusion of a broader project dedicated to exploring the connections between Italian and Latvian art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The exhibition, open to the public from July to November 2025, brought masterpieces from the Uffizi Galleries to the Latvian capital, creating an unprecedented dialogue between two artistic traditions.
The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Italy to Latvia, Alessandro Monti, the Minister for Culture, Agnese Lāce, and the Mayor of Riga, Viesturs Kleinbergs.
The volume, published in three languages (Italian, Latvian and English), is not only a guide to the works on display but also an in-depth analytical study of the aesthetic and historical links between the two countries. It includes distinguished scholarly contributions by Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi, Astrida Rogule, Elena Marconi, Vanessa Gavioli and Aija Brasliņa.
Today, the catalogue represents a milestone in the scientific and academic cooperation and in cultural relations between the two countries, as well as a valuable legacy of the project: a lasting testament that will continue to highlight its significance beyond its conclusion.
Special thanks are extended to the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Uffizi Galleries, Nuova Artemarea and Treccani for their valuable collaboration.
Photo credit: Šeila Orlova / Colortime
