Restituzioni 2025. Restored art treasures

Launched in 1989 and now in its 20th edition, Restituzioni is a three-year program run by Intesa Sanpaolo in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture to preserve and enhance Italy’s artistic heritage. In the 36 years since the launch of the project, more than 2,200 works belonging to public, private or ecclesiastical museums, archaeological sites and churches have been restored, selected in consultation with the ministerial bodies responsible for their protection.

The exhibition at Palazzo Esposizioni, promoted by the Department of Culture of Roma Capitale and curated by Giorgio Bonsanti, Carla Di Francesco and Carlo Bertelli, presents to the public the results of the restoration work carried out between 2022 and 2025. The 117 works on display (out of a total of 128 restored) come from all regions of Italy and cover a period of 35 centuries, from antiquity to 1965. Sixty laboratories and dozens of conservation scientists, including the Central Institute for Restoration in Rome, worked on their restoration. An international collaboration between Italy and Belgium has enabled the restoration of the 15th-century altarpiece depicting the Adoration of the Magi from the Church of Santi Apostoli e Nazaro Maggiore in Milan, carried out by the Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique in Brussels.

Alongside painted crosses, tapestries, reliefs, paintings and works by great artists of the past and present, such as Giovanni Bellini, Giulio Romano, Mario Sironi and Pino Pascali, visitors also have the opportunity to discover unusual objects that bear witness to the variety and uniqueness of Italy's artistic heritage. These include, for example, the 16th-century spinet by Giovanni Francesco Antegnati, the 19th-century draisienne (a precursor to the modern bicycle) from Gallarate, a samurai bow and a Siamese boat from the Castle of Agliè, a sewn boat (mid-2nd to late 1st century BC) measuring over 4 meters from the MAN in Adria, a Roman bone bed from Chieti, two Charleston-style dresses from Rome and a planetary machine from the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.

On the occasion of the exhibition, in the “Restories” section of the website restituzioni.com, the restored works of art “tell” their stories to visitors and enthusiasts.