Maria Dompè installs two works at Villa Carlotta on Lake Como

On June 26, 2025, Villa Carlotta in Tremezzina, Lake Como, inaugurated a new contemporary art initiative with a project by Maria Dompè (born 1959, Fermo), curated by Elena Di Raddo. Titled "To the women are not allowed to fulfill their dreams!", the project consists of two interventions: an ephemeral indoor piece in the Sala Gessi, created with Livia Crispolti and her students from the Accademia di Brera's textile culture course, and an outdoor work developed with the villa's gardeners, linking the historic garden to a recently restored woodland area. Both works draw inspiration from women forced to abandon their dreams, dedicated to Princess Carlotta of Prussia, who owned the villa and died at age 23. Villa Carlotta, built in the late 17th century by the Clerici marquises of Milan, passed to politician Giovanni Battista Sommariva in 1801, then to Princess Marianna of Prussia in 1843, who gave it to her daughter Carlotta upon her marriage to Duke George II of Saxe-Meiningen in 1850. The museum houses a collection including works by Antonio Canova and Berthel Thorvaldsen.