iColosseum and Roman Forum · Celio / Monti
Sappho. The Spirit of Poetry
Exhibition on Sappho of Lesbos in the Farnese Aviaries on the Palatine, set between the historical poet and the legendary one, with vases, sculpture, paintings and manuscripts.
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Sappho leaps from the Leucadian cliff in the first pavilion, a projection of a rare scene in the apse of Rome's underground basilica at Porta Maggiore. You walk on to the other image from her fragments, the moon, painted by Filippo Palizzi as a waning moon before dawn.
This is the first exhibition devoted to the poet, about 40 works across the two Farnese Aviaries on the Palatine. The first pavilion holds the Sappho of the fragments: painted vases and a laurel-crowned bust. The second is the legend, an indoor garden that smells of roses, from Gustave Moreau's Death of Sappho to a 1967 Artemide lamp called Lesbo and a 1991 Sappho Swatch. Curator Silvia Romani calls her an ancient pop star, and the merch is here to prove it.
Entry comes with the €18 Colosseum, Forum and Palatine ticket or the Forum Pass Super (€2 for EU citizens aged 18 to 24), booked at ticketing.colosseo.it. From 25 October the Palatine closes at 16:30, last entry 15:30.
Look for
The leap from the Leucadian cliff
Look for the projection, with sound, of Sappho's leap, taken from a rare scene in the apse of the underground basilica at Porta Maggiore, the most significant ancient image of her found in Rome.
The Bochum calyx krater
A red-figure vase from 480 to 470 BC, attributed to the Painter of Tithonos, on which Sappho is identified by her name painted beside her.
Marchiori's laurel-crowned bust
Giovanni Marchiori's sculpted bust shows the poet with a laurel crown, the honour the ancients gave the woman they called the tenth Muse.
The rose garden pavilion
The second pavilion is an artificial indoor garden with two small dioramas and a rose scent in the air, for Aphrodite, the goddess Sappho kept calling on.
The Lesbo lamp and the Sappho Swatch
Angelo Mangiarotti's 1967 Lesbo lamp for Artemide and a 1991 Sappho Swatch show where the legend ended up: in design shops and on wrists.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
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Image credits
9
- Sappho. The Spirit of PoetryCourtesy of Colosseum and Roman Forum
- Diego Rivera and the Construction of Modern Art in 20th-Century MexicoCourtesy of Capitoline Museums
- The Colossal Statue of ConstantineCourtesy of Capitoline Museums
- Il non finito: fra poetica e tecnica esecutivaCourtesy of Capitoline Museums
- Colosseum and Roman ForumFeaturedPics, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Museo della Forma UrbisNestorFMarques, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Basilica of San ClementeLabicanense, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Capitoline MuseumsTournasol7 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Palazzo delle EsposizioniSzilas, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0