For the next few months, the Roberto Casamonti Collection can be visited inside the historic Palazzo Salimbeni-Bartolini, a Renaissance gem in Piazza Santa Trinita. During 2026, the collection will move permanently to its new home in Palazzo San Giorgio, on Lungarno Serristori, although the exact date has not yet been announced. For now, visitors can enjoy the unique fascination of its Renaissance setting.
A Palace Built on Clever Tricks and Poppies
The story of the palace itself is as intriguing as the artworks it now houses. Built in the late 1500s, Palazzo Salimbeni was commissioned by the wealthy merchant family of the same name. According to legend, the Salimbeni managed to finance its construction through a clever—and somewhat dubious—business trick.
In Venice, they invited rival merchants to a lavish dinner the night before their ship was due to dock. During the feast, the rivals were given poppies laced with opium. The following morning, none of them turned up at the port, leaving the Salimbeni free to secure the best deals. This is why the poppy motif is found throughout the palace and why the family adopted the motto Per non dormire (“Not to sleep”).
When the building was later transformed into a hotel in the early 20th century, Gabriele D’Annunzio stayed there and expanded the phrase into Per non dormire, per non morire (“Not to sleep, not to die”).
Once the Casamonti Collection relocates, the palace will continue to serve as an exhibition venue for temporary shows, preserving its role as a cultural landmark in Florence.
From Arte Povera to Anselm Kiefer
The exhibition opens with Arte Povera, a movement born in Italy in the late 1960s, at a time of social unrest and political transformation. Artists such as Pier Paolo Calzolari, Jannis Kounellis, and Alighiero Boetti rejected the polished aesthetic of post-war modernism, turning instead to humble materials—wood, stone, iron, cloth—reflecting both economic uncertainty and a desire to reconnect art with real life.
Their works, fragile yet powerful, can be read as a response to the industrial boom and its alienation, a way to recover an authenticity that the previous generation’s abstract and geometric rigor seemed to have lost.
The themes were later taken up by Anselm Kiefer. In his monumental work Ave Maria, Kiefer pays homage to the earth itself, layering straw, lead, and pigment in a way that recalls and transforms the experimental techniques of the Arte Povera generation. His practice shows how the dialogue between matter and meaning, first opened in the 1960s, continued into later decades with new historical and cultural resonances.
The Legacy of Land Art
From there, the path leads to Land Art, a movement that emerged mainly in the United States in the 1970s, when artists started to see nature itself as a canvas. After the radical gestures of Arte Povera, Land Art took the reflection further: if the earlier generation had questioned the role of materials inside the gallery, Land artists challenged the very boundaries of the museum by carving into deserts, drawing on earth, or staging interventions in open landscapes.
Among the works in the Casamonti Collection is an important piece by Christo & Jeanne-Claude, leading figures in Land Art and environmental art. It is the preparatory project for The Pont Neuf Wrapped (Project for Paris), created in 1980: a large drawing on cardboard combining pencil, charcoal, pastel, ink, graphite, and a map, encased in plexiglass. The work documents the creative phase of one of their most iconic interventions, when in 1985 the Pont Neuf in Paris was entirely wrapped in golden fabric, transforming the city’s oldest bridge into a spectacular and ephemeral monument for two weeks.
Pop Art and the Pulse of a New Age
The climax of the exhibition is the Pop Art section, where the energy of the late 20th century bursts into vivid colors and bold forms. If Arte Povera had reacted to industrial alienation and Land Art had looked to nature, Pop Art responded to the explosion of mass media, consumerism, and popular culture. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s frenetic compositions, filled with words, diagrams, and fragments of anatomy, embody the raw vitality of New York in the 1980s, while still carrying the memory of earlier avant-gardes like graffiti and jazz improvisation.
Joan Miró reinterpreted traditional painting techniques with radical innovation, using signs, symbols, and vivid colors to open new pathways for abstraction. The visit then continues into the hall of contemporaneity, where the languages of performance and video art come to the fore. Here we encounter Marina Abramović’s exploration of the body as a medium, Vanessa Beecroft’s reflections on identity and collective rituals, Maurizio Cattelan’s ironic provocations, and Bill Viola’s immersive video works, which blend Renaissance spirituality with cutting-edge technology.
An Experience Between Past and Future
Seen together, these works form not only a survey of contemporary art but also a chain of influences: Arte Povera reacting against modernist formality, Land Art expanding on Arte Povera’s material experiments, and Pop Art capturing the immediacy of mass culture while drawing on the abstract languages developed before. Within the historic walls of Palazzo Salimbeni-Bartolini, this progression becomes even clearer: each generation reshapes what it inherited, turning past constraints into new creative freedoms.
Support Florence Daily News
Florence Daily News is an independent news site covering the stories, culture, and life of Florence and Tuscany. We don’t rely on clickbait, invasive or hidden advertising, or paywalls. Instead, we believe in quality journalism that respects our readers and serves those who care about thoughtful, local reporting.
If you value our work, consider supporting us with a donation.
Donate securely via Stripe below.
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly
Eirini Lavrentiadou is an actress and singer, born in Thessaloniki in 1992. She lives in Florence, where she trained at the city’s Theatre Academy and the Fiesole School of Music. She has performed in classical Greek and European plays, worked with international directors and companies, and appeared in concerts ranging from opera to jazz. She contributes to Florence Daily News as a writer.
Discover more from Florence Daily News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.