The Palazzo per l’Esposizione Internazionale delle Belle Arti, or Palace for the International Exhibition of Fine Arts, a huge building devoted to all the Arts illustrated on its iconic façade on Via Nazionale, was opened amid much pomp and ceremony in the King’s presence on 21 January 1883.

Designed by the architect Pio Piacentini, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni was the result of a plan to build a building celebrating the city’s cultural calling. The first building in Italy to be devoted exclusively to the Fine Arts without being an actual museum, its purpose was to document the history of art both past and present while measuring up against, and interacting with, the other great European models at the same time.

If we look at its history from the day it was opened to the present, we will see that the Palazzo has always served as both an exhbition centre and a workshop for research and experimentation. The transition from the singular, Esposizione, to the plural, Esposizioni, concisely embodies the well over a century of artistic research that has marked its existence.  

Hosting the Rome Quadriennale since 1931, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni is now managed on behalf of Rome the Capital City by the Azienda Special Palaexpo, whose venues include the Museo MACRO, the Mattatoio di Roma and the Museo delle Periferie.

To celebrate the Palazzo delle Esposizioni’s 140th birthday together, on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 January the € 8.00 ticket will admit visitors to both exhibitions currently being held in the Palazzo: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Everything Is Sacred. The Body Poetic and Mario Merz. Balla, Carrà, de Chirico, de Pisis, Morandi, Savinio, Severini. Rome 1978.