Reggia di Caserta Plans Permanent Terrae Motus Display with €7M Funding

Mauro Felicori, director of the Reggia di Caserta, outlines plans for a definitive installation of the Terrae Motus collection, a contemporary art assemblage created by gallerist Lucio Amelio after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. The collection, housed at the 18th-century palace since 1993, includes works by Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Joseph Beuys, Mimmo Paladino, and Arte Povera masters. Felicori received €7 million in government funding to renovate the Aeronautica spaces, with the project expected to take two years. Restoration is underway on key pieces: Mario Merz's 1984 "Terrae Motus" (neon Fibonacci numbers on a Vesuvius backdrop) and Pietro Gilardi's 1986 "Autogobierno" (addressing the 1985 Mexico City earthquake). Further interventions target works by Gérard Garouste, Chema Cobo, Anselm Kiefer, and Oswald Oberhuber. Felicori opposes temporary loans of individual works but seeks to tour the entire collection, including a potential partnership with the Hermitage Museum. He emphasizes human resource shortages over financial constraints, noting that the Franceschini reform succeeded but left staffing gaps; he could hire 20–30 people if permitted. The director also expresses openness to collaboration with the Madre museum in Naples, led by Andrea Viliani, as part of a broader contemporary art network.