Virgil Museum opens amid rediscovered medieval frescoes –

A new museum dedicated to the Roman epic poet Virgil has opened in a newly restored 13th-century palace in Virgil’s hometown of Mantua. Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to admire art and artifacts related to Rome’s poet laureate in eight galleries, each dedicated to a different aspect of Virgil’s life and work, and the setting itself a rediscovered treasure of medieval art.

Publius Vergilius Maro was born on October 10, 70 BC, a few miles from Mantua, in what was then Cisalpine Gaul (the Roman province of Gaul, “This side of the Alps”) a well-to-do family, Virgil was highly educated. And published his first collection of poems “Pastoral Poems” around 38 BC. Its success brought him into the literary circle of Octavian’s supporters. He wrote the Georgics between 37 and 29 BC, then turned to his greatest masterpiece, the Aeneid, written in the last decade of his life (29-19 BC). He died of illness in southern Italy and was buried in Naples, but Mantua remained close to his heart in his final days. He wrote an epitaph for himself and engraved it on his tomb: “Mantua me genuit; Calabre la pre; principle nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces.” (“Mantua gave birth to me, The Calabrians took it; Partenope [the Greek name for Naples] Hold me now; I sing of pastures and farms and commanders. “)

Mantua has been proud of its beloved native son since antiquity, a devotion that was amplified during the High Middle Ages, when Virgil was the cornerstone of the intellectual and cultural renaissance known as the 12th-century Renaissance. In the Divine Comedy, Dante makes Virgil his guide and example through hell and purgatory.

The Podestà Palace (Palazzo del Podestà) was built in 1227 at the height of this revival and has been the seat of Mantua’s municipal administration for hundreds of years. Virgil has always been a part of this building. It was once known as Palazzo Virgilio. A niche on the facade is decorated with a 12th-century statue of Virgil, wearing a medieval doctor’s robe and holding a writing desk on his lap. It has now been moved into a museum. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary in another niche, simply to convey the high status held by the poet.

Since being decommissioned as a government building, it has been home to several museums, a courthouse and even a prison, but was severely damaged by two major earthquakes that struck northern Italy in May 2012. In 2017, the city began a sweeping campaign to build a massive 97,000-square-foot palace with 227 rooms over seven floors. The project will cost €24 million and be completed by the end of 2023. The following year, part of the renovated palace was transformed into a museum dedicated to Virgil.

Emergency reinforcement works following the 2012 earthquake revealed a hidden treasure: high-quality medieval frescoes covering the entire palace walls. During the restoration project they were explored, stabilized and protected.

The images depict the months of the year through work scenes and astrological references, creating a bridge between natural time and the harmony of human life. This richly illustrated manuscript has high pedagogical value, providing a visual experience that will appeal to experts and casual visitors alike.

In addition to the monthly cycles, the walls of Upper Masseria also have frescoes depicting knights and scenes from mythology, including warriors and centaurs in battle. According to the hypothesis of museum director Veronica Gizzi, a mysterious soldier with caprid legs could represent a variation of the Arthurian iconography, a symbol of madness and disorderly enterprise, associated with the Cycle of the Moon A stark contrast to the harmony celebrated in .

The theme of nature is at the heart of “The Cycle of the Moon” and is directly related to Virgil’s “Geometry”, in which the poet celebrates agricultural labor as an instrument of peace and cosmic order. Virgil’s vision, which contrasted the harmony of celestial time with the chaos of human conflict, found its perfect expression in the medieval cosmology re-proposed by the frescoes. The tour of the museum also allows visitors to see the heraldic fresco of 1473, as well as a frieze about one meter high in white plaster of Arengario with the image of Federico II Gonzaga Gonzaga era emblem.

However, the Virgil Museum is not limited to murals: visitors can admire many artworks and artifacts related to the poet. Notable among them are the 13th-century polychrome sculpture “Virgil on the Chair” and the 2nd-century BC artifact “Virgil’s Throne”. Also of interest are Gonzaga coins bearing the poet’s portrait, a fragment of a 1540 fresco depicting his face, a bust of Virgil from the first half of the 16th century, and a collection of his ancient works. Each work on display tells the story of the unbreakable bond between Virgil and Mantua, a connection that the museum aims to make accessible to all.

The Virgil Museum officially opened on December 7.