The Torlonia Foundation celebrates its first 10 years. The opening of the Antiquarium

The exhibition at the Torlonia Foundation celebrates the first 10 years of activity of this prestigious institution, with the inauguration of the Antiquarium, a space within the Stables of Villa Albani Torlonia in which it is set up. The exhibition, curated by Carlo Gasparri, professor emeritus of the Federico II University of Naples and Accademico dei Lincei, presents a group of sculptures from the collection recently restored, thanks to the support of Bulgari and the collaboration of the Special Superintendence of Rome: a free initiative that allows to admire some masterpieces from the Foundation's extraordinary collection, normally closed to the public.

On display are around thirteen sculptures of unparalleled beauty - which were inserted into the natural environment of the garden - including a Female statue of Najade with two hydriae, a deity of river waters depicted with a light chiton with sleeves and cinched at the waist by a belt, Eros on a chariot pulled by wild boars, a work originally preserved in the Villa and subsequently in the Torlonia Museum, composed of heterogeneous elements, or the Torso of a companion of Ulysses, from the Scylla group restored as Milo crotoniate, a male character bitten on the side by a dog's head and already defined as "Fragment of a sea monster devouring a shipwrecked man", with reference to one of Ulysses' companions, victims of the shipwreck attacked by Scylla. There are also various figures of animals such as the Eagle and the Deer, portrait busts such as that of the Ignoto so-called Balbino or Unknown so-called Otho, the Herm with the head of the group of Philoumenos and the Herm of Alcibiades and an extraordinary Basin in African marble.

To delve deeper into the theme of the contemporary practice of conservation of ancient marbles, the exhibition is also accompanied by some meetings with Anna Maria Carruba, Conservator of the Torlonia Collections and with the group of restorers and technicians who shared the various restoration projects.

Villa Albani Torlonia, a complex built in the mid-18th century by the architect Marchionni (1702-1786), is located via Salaria and viale Regina Margherita where the Torlonia Collection is preserved, the most important private collection of ancient art in the world which includes sarcophagi, Greco-Roman busts and statues are the result of a series of acquisitions from the major Roman patrician collections, as well as excavations on the lands owned by the family.