Curated by the Press Office of the Municipality of Città di Castello
Over 20 museums and 11 works on display in the year of the five hundredth anniversary of the great Renaissance master: with a reduced ticket you can visit, until December 2023, “La Valle di Signorelli”, an unprecedented project between Renaissance and contemporary art thanks to the presence in the circuit of the Burri Museums in Città di Castello.
Cortona-Città di Castello direct line in the name of Signorelli: discounted ticket between the Pinacoteca and the MAEC, the Etruscan Academy Museum and the city of Cortona where the ‘Cinquecentenario’ exhibition curated by Tom Henry is taking place.
Between the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century, in this part of Northern Umbria which includes the eight municipalities of Città di Castello, Umbertide, San Giustino, Citerna, Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, Montone, Pietralunga, Lisciano Niccone, two greats of the Renaissance move, without ever meeting in person: Signorelli and Raffaello. La Valle di Signorelli is a ‘Valley exhibition’, which embraces the works produced by the two artists and their influence on the clients, including the ‘Pala di San Sebastiano’ and the cycle of frescoes in the Oratory of San Crescentino in Città di Castello, the ‘Deposition’ in the Church of Santa Croce in Umbertide and the very active school of Signorelli who left important attestations in the Duomo museum – in Citerna – in the Bufalini Castle of San Giustino and in Montone. In addition to a discounted ticket for the Valley exhibition, in 2023 the Upper Tiber offers a joint calendar of cultural animation, historical re-enactments, events inspired by the figure of Luca Signorelli and projected into the contemporaneity of this territory to which Alberto Burri, the master of the informal, the ‘sacchi’ (sacks) and the ‘Cretto di Gibellina’, left his three museums.
The Upper Tiber Valley was a second homeland for Signorelli who had here prestigious commissioner of which are expression the eleven attestations remained in the territory in which they were made.
“Luca Signorelli and Raffaello Sanzio: there is a magical moment, at the end of the fifteenth century, in which the two great artists share without ever meeting the same city, the same streets, meet the same people, look at the same landscape, leaving behind timeless works. That place is the Upper Tiber Valley that in the year of the five hundredth anniversary of his death dedicates to Luca Signorelli and his works a calendar of cultural events and cultural itineraries”, said the signatories of the project, the mayors and deputy mayors of the eight municipalities of the Upper Tiber, the representative of the diocese of Città di Castello, the representatives of the twenty museums involved and also the deputy mayor of the municipality of Cortona, Francesco Attesti, who announced the extension of the reduced ticket also to the museums of Cortona”.
‘La Valle di Signorelli’ is an invitation to get to know this part of Umbria where the Renaissance coexists with the contemporary and where the panorama of the great works has still remained intact. In coordination with the Perugino and Signorelli project, with the initiatives of Assogal and Gal Alta Umbria – the Alto Tevere Umbro for the first time proposes a valley exhibition, a first attempt of creating a “Valle Museo”. Here the Renaissance of Luca Signorelli and Raffaello Sanzio coexists with the contemporaneity of the museums of the great artist Alberto Burri: Originally from Città di Castello, in 1973 the artist from Città di Castello, winner of the Feltrinelli Prize for Graphics, donated the entire amount assigned to him by the Accademia dei Lincei to the recovery and restoration of Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in the Oratory of San Crescentino, in Morra.
To promote the association, a video was made, with the contributions of one of Signorelli’s greatest experts, Tom Harry, and Bruno Corà, President of the ‘Fondazione Burri Collezione Palazzo Albizzini’ who underlined how: “The relationship between Luca Signorelli and Alberto Burri exists and is linked to numerous factors, the first is that both have lived in this territory: with respect to their painting there are formal analogies, comparisons; Burri actually belongs entirely to modernity but there are many classic aspects in Burri’s metabolism… Signorelli has entered and must be sought in the historical, geographical-cultural element. This is a possible interpretation”.
Cortona and Città di Castello have therefore signed a memorandum of understanding in the name of Signorelli: a reduced ticket to enter Pinacoteca and the MAEC: “Coinciding with the five hundredth anniversary of the death of Luca Signorelli” – said the Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Città di Castello Michela Botteghi and the Deputy Mayor, Councillor for Culture of Cortona Francesco Attesti – “We propose the enhancement of the artistic heritage, cultural and environmental of the respective territories starting from the places that preserve works by Signorelli, which will be entrusted with the function of hotspot, for a coordinated promotion of itineraries and events until Christmas 2023. It seems to us a good sign of collaboration between territories that share Signorelli’s precious heritage and that in the future intend to extend the synergy to other circumstances”.
“The Administration is committed on the front of cultural policies to network, finding and consolidating connections on the territory is a very effective means of promotion as well as one of the lines of action of the Municipality of Città di Castello. After years of attempts, finally, we are structuring a permanent link on concrete projects based on our artistic excellence. The Five hundredth anniversary of Signorelli, thanks to the numerous works he left in the Upper Tiber Valley, has naturally lent itself to experimenting with the possibility of working together, creating events and opportunities for tourists and for our citizens. The valley project and the memoranda of understanding between the 8 municipalities, the diocese and the 20 museums on one side and Cortona on the other, were strongly wanted, organized and managed by the Department of Culture of our Municipality”, concludes Councilor Botteghi.
Info www.rimaltotevere.it / www.comune.cittadicastello.pg.it