Museo Guttuso Reopens in Bagheria After Restoration

After a year and a half of closure for restoration, the Museo Guttuso at Villa Cattolica in Bagheria, Sicily, reopened on the 105th anniversary of Renato Guttuso's birth. The ceremony featured fireworks and video mapping projecting Guttuso's paintings like Vucciria and Crocifissione onto the villa facade. Attendees included Bagheria mayor Patrizio Cinque, culture assessor Romina Aiello, Ars president Giovanni Ardizzone, Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando, actors Pif and Francesco Scianna, and director Giuseppe Tornatore, who recalled meeting Guttuso as a boy and filming a documentary with him in 1982. The restoration, co-funded by the European Union, focused on new LED lighting and dust/temperature detection systems. Interactive touch screens were installed along the exhibition path. The new museum layout, curated by Dora Favella Lo Cascio, spans three levels: the first and second floors house the Guttuso collection with works by the painter and 20th-century artists; the ground floor features new sections on cinema poster art, cart painting, and photography.