(Sixth Power) – Forlì – 25 April 2025 – The emptying of Palazzo del Merenda necessary for the opening of its restoration site – explains the Municipality in a note – has provided a new and important opportunity to enhance the historical-artistic heritage of the city of Forlì.
Five prestigious works belonging to the picture gallery preserved in the large Salone del Merenda were in fact lent to the Municipality of Cento, for the creation of the exhibition “Guercino, a new look. Works coming from Forlì and hidden places”.
From July 2024, the Church of San Lorenzo will host two large altarpieces by Guercino (“St. John the Baptist” and “Annunciation”) and three paintings from his school (“The Madonna of the Rosary” by Benedetto Gennari the Younger, “ Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria” by Giuseppe Maria Galeppini, “Saints Anna and Joachim and the Eternal Father” by Cristoforo Serra) alongside other works by the Baroque master and his workshop, in an important regional exhibition context.
Carried out between the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Municipality of Forlì, the cultural operation – explains the administration – is part of a broader valorisation process which sees as protagonists all the places in which Guercino’s works are preserved, even those at the currently inaccessible for various reasons.
The initiative found positive feedback in the Municipality of Cento – home of Guercino – and in the Cassa di Risparmio di Cento Foundation, with the assistance of the Superintendence of Ravenna.
«In November 2023, 11 years after the earthquake, the Pinacoteca reopened, enjoying great success among the public and opinion – states the director of the Pinacoteca Civica di Cento Lorenzo Lorenzini – With this loan from the Municipality of Forlì we will create a new headquarters exhibition dedicated to Guercino in the Church of San Lorenzo and to enrich not only Cento but also the entire regional community. In fact, the 15 works exhibited here come from buildings, such as Palazzo del Merenda in Forlì and the Church of the Rosario and the Church of San Pietro in Cento, currently the subject of important recovery and restoration works and therefore not accessible. With this exhibition we will make these famous paintings accessible to the general public, thus avoiding hiding them in storage.»
This loan – specifies the Municipality of Forlì – thus continues the process already begun of promoting awareness of the Civic Museums of Forlì among the general public of art exhibitions, exhibiting some of the most prestigious canvases of the Civic Art Gallery awaiting their transfer to the new wing of the San Domenico Complex.
