The masterpieces of the Italian Pavilion will be exhibited at the Osaka Museum of Art

The Italian Pavilion, one of the most visited and acclaimed at the Osaka Expo, with waits for entry reaching as long as seven hours, will extend its success beyond the closing of the major event on October 13. From October 25 to January 12, the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts will host the special exhibition “Atlas’s Sky – Treasures of the Italian Pavilion,” organized to celebrate 160 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan and to preserve the cultural memory of the Expo. Among the works that were on display at the Italian Pavilion for six months, and which will be exhibited in Osaka after the closing, are the famous Farnese Atlas, a 2nd-century sculpture and symbol of the pavilion; Perugino’s Banner of Justice (1496); and two previously unpublished sheets from Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus (1478 and 1480–82), exhibited for the first time in Japan.

The Italian Pavilion, dedicated to the theme “Art Regenerates Life,” attracted record crowds during the six months of the Expo thanks to the presence of authentic masterpieces by Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, contrasting with the multimedia installations prevalent in the other pavilions. Visitors and social media users praised the experience as “a once-in-a-lifetime privilege,” despite the long waits. Tickets for the exhibition at the Osaka museum, with reservations recommended, cost 1.800 yen for adults, 1.500 yen for students, and 500 yen for elementary and middle school students.