The 1st of November opens at the Palazzo del Broletto in Como "I Volti di Plinio. Natura est vita", multimedia exhibition by Fondazione Alessandro Volta curated by Accademia Pliniana.
Up to November 10 will guide the visitor on an engaging journey to explore the figure of Pliny the Elder - born in Como on 23 or 24 AD. - and the timeless influence of his literary work, which came from ancient Rome with universal echo to the present day.
Time:
Public holidays 10:30 - 19:30
Working days 13:30 - 19:30
Free entry.
The exhibition
Visitors will have the extraordinary opportunity to observe what some believe to be the remains of the heroic admiral's skull. Thanks to an operation of coordination between the Historical Museum of Sanitary Art in Rome and the Alessandro Volta Foundation, the controversial and evocative find - found at the beginning of the twentieth century near the ancient port of Pompeii - will be transported to Como for the occasion.
Pliny the Elder died coordinating the rescue operations during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. The exhibition will also include an engaging virtual historical reconstruction of the eruption of Vesuvius, provided exclusively by the MAV (Virtual Archaeological Museum) of Herculaneum, which will be surrounded by evocative wall projections that reconstruct some sides of the many faces of Pliny. The exhibition also includes an installation with the iconographies of Pliny conceived and created by the photographer Margot Errante, who has collaborated in the curatorship of Accademia Pliniana.
It will be an unprecedented multimedia journey: the major themes covered by the monumental Naturalis Historia, as well as the reconstruction of Pliny's biography, will be offered to the public with an innovative key of interpretation, without contravening the utmost scientific rigor.
The project of the exhibition intends to start in Como the path to celebrate the Plinian bimillennium (2023/2024), just when the Pantheon compiled by the MIT of Boston tells us that Pliny the Elder and his nephew are the two Como characters who have most influenced the culture of humanity and still the most translated and sought after on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the last descendant of the Naturalis historia pliniana.
Counter events
Sunday, October 27th - Inauguration of the Pliny Garden at Villa del Grumello, initiative of the Association Villa del Grumello and the Plinian Academy. The program of the day includes at 10:30 am the inauguration of the "Garden of Pliny" at Villa del Grumello, from 11:30 to 17:30 the series of stage readings "The fairy tales of Pliny child" by Chiara Bazzoli (Oxygen Theatre), at 18:00 the conference "The two stories of Pliny: History of Nature, History of Art", by Prof. Maurizio Harari, University of Pisa.
Sunday, November 10 - Walk in time #Plinii City, initiative of Fondazione A. Volta, organised by the Association Sentiero dei Sogni. The departure will be at the Broletto, to follow in front of the facade of the Duomo where in 1480 the people of Como placed the effigies of the Plinii at the sides of the portal. The route will continue at the Teatro Sociale in Como, which decided to dedicate the historical curtain to the scene of the death of Pliny the Elder. It will continue towards the Archaeological Museum Paolo Giovio whose Sala Duomo houses the casts of the two Plinii. Finally we will pass in front of the Liceo Volta to conclude the path to the Civic Art Gallery.
