Bill Viola's "The Greeting" in the Roman Forum. A tribute to Pontormo

Two women in brightly coloured modern clothes are talking when a third walks up. The real meeting lasted about 45 seconds. Bill Viola shot it on 35 mm film at 300 frames per second, so here it runs for about ten minutes, and you watch every glance and gesture arrive in slow motion.

He made it for the US Pavilion at the 1995 Venice Biennale, borrowing the composition and colours of Pontormo's Visitation rather than restaging the Bible story. Rome shows it in Santa Maria Antiqua, the Forum church rediscovered in 1900, whose walls hold at least six layers of frescoes. In a city where saying goodbye at the door can take twenty minutes, a hello that lasts ten fits right in.

It is one work, timed to the Pontormo show at the Scuderie del Quirinale. The park lists it under the Forum Pass Super (€18, €2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 24) and the Full Experience ticket, booked at ticketing.colosseo.it.