Freshly appointed as Italian Capital of Culture 2028, Ancona is staging an exceptional series of exhibitions and cultural experiences from Easter until 26 September 2026. During this period, three major masterpieces by Tiziano Vecellio will be displayed together in a unique “studio exhibition” format: Tiziano 1520 – La Pala Gozzi di Ancona e l’Annunciazione del Duomo di Treviso.
The show brings into the same room two works by the master from the same year—1520—beginning with La Pala Gozzi (oil on panel, 1520), currently returning to Ancona after its participation in Tiziano e il paesaggio. Dal Cadore alla Laguna: la Pala Gozzi e la Sommersione del Faraone, an earlier exhibition held in the Municipality of Pieve di Cadore from 23 January to 26 March 2026. The third presence is the moving and highly emotional Crocifissione (oil on canvas, 1558). For the first time, these works will “dialogue” in the same space with The Annunciation (1520), loaned from the Cappella Malchiostro in the Duomo of Treviso, where it will remain on view until the end of September.
Dated 1520, like La Pala Gozzi—with the date newly established as a result of a recent restoration—The Annunciation makes it possible to open a concrete and verifiable path of study, grounded in direct comparison between contemporary works that are both coeval and profoundly innovative.
The temporary movement of the painting is required due to upcoming restoration works funded by Save Venice for the Cappella Malchiostro. The initiative has also supported the restoration of another Tiziano masterpiece connected to the Duomo of Treviso, enriched further by frescoes by Pordenone. This has created the conditions for a meaningful exchange between cultural institutions.
In The Annunciation, Tiziano—along with The Crocifissione and La Pala Gozzi—revolutionizes the traditional iconography of the subject. The Virgin appears in the foreground, turned toward the viewer, while the Archangel Gabriel is placed farther back, along a diagonal perspective that increases spatial dynamism and psychological intensity. At the center of the composition, in the background, kneels the patron Broccardo Malchiostro—plenipotentiary of the humanist bishop of Treviso Bernardo de Rossi—identified by an inscription in the lower right area of the panel.
This iconographic approach, marked by extraordinary modernity, did not escape the attention of Lorenzo Lotto, who later adopted it in an original way in his Annunciation from Recanati.
The event is particularly significant because it reunites, in one focused context, two altarpieces from 1520—an opportunity for experts on the artist to conduct further study. This will take place during a series of conferences promoted by the Assessorato alla Cultura, organized with the Fondazione Centro Studi Tiziano e Cadore.
The program strengthens the role of the Pinacoteca in anticipation of 2028, a point emphasized by the Councilor for Culture, Marta Paraventi, who said:
“The Pinacoteca can turn Ancona’s victory as Italian Capital of Culture 2028 into a lasting legacy, because it is a museum that researches, produces, engages in dialogue, builds networks among institutions and knowledge, and helps the city recognize itself within a broader cultural vision.”
The artistic offering does not end with Tiziano. Through 19 April, the Pinacoteca also hosts Lorenzo Lotto. Un volto per la città (“Lorenzo Lotto. A Face for the City”). This second studio exhibition presents, on loan from Rome’s Musei Capitolini, Il Mastro Batista balestier de la Rocha Contrada (oil on canvas, 1551–1552), paired with La Pala dell’Alabarda (oil on canvas, 1538–1539) by the same artist, already present in the museum’s permanent collection.
The pairing offers a rare chance to experience two key works by Lotto together within the Pinacoteca’s spaces—one of them already held and displayed permanently by the museum.
The portrait is among the most important works produced in Lotto’s later years, set in the context of Ancona, where the painter was active. Lotto had the ability to transform the human face into an authentic “place of truth.” Catalogued in 1767 as a work by Giorgione in the inventories of the Pinacoteca Capitolina, the painting was later reattributed to Lotto in the late nineteenth century by Adolfo Venturi and Giovanni Morelli. In 1894, Gustavo Frizzoni identified the sitter as Battista di Rocca Contrada, the crossbowman from what is now Arcevia.
The protagonist is captured in a suspended psychological threshold: he does not pose and does not fully offer himself to the viewer, but seems to interrupt a gesture—as if caught mid-thought. Far from being merely a narrative attribute, the crossbow becomes a symbol of civic function: discipline, vigilance, responsibility. A sober, non-idealizing light emerges from the darkness to reveal a complex identity where dignity and fragility coexist.
Ultimately, it is both the portrait of a real individual and a window into sixteenth-century society—rooted in expertise, guild structures, and reputation, where prestige also arises from the role exercised within the community.
Ancona’s cultural program extends beyond the Pinacoteca, just a short distance away. Here stand the Museo archeologico nazionale delle Marche and the Roman Amphitheatre, which reopens this year from April to September.
The Amphitheatre is part of the cultural offerings of the “Palazzo Ducale di Urbino – Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Marche” institute. Access is made possible through the triennial agreement 2025–2027 signed with the Municipality of Ancona – Assessorato alla Cultura.
Visitors can discover the city’s stratified history—the Amphitheatre being the most important entertainment venue of Roman Ancona—accompanied by professional guides. The entry ticket also includes access to the National Archaeological Museum, which can be visited independently the following day.
At the M A N Marche, visitors can be amazed by archaeological treasures found throughout the region: the legacy of Piceni, Celts, Greeks, and Romans underpins the multifaceted and unique identity of the Marche, with standout achievements ranging from flamboyant Picene ceramics and delicate Hellenistic small artworks to faces carved in stone from the Roman cities of the region.
The museum also offers Depositi Aperti (“Open Deposits”), a new space at the heart of the museum experience. It allows visitors to enter the museum’s internal areas and view more than 6,000 artifacts stored in displays made accessible thanks to work financed through PNRR initiatives. This is described as a new kind of archaeological museum visit: after the public exhibition route, the experience continues through the deposit areas, a study room for researchers, an “object library,” a gallery of mosaics, and a dedicated space commemorating the destruction caused during the Second World War—an event that directly affected the museum’s former site.
Photo credits: Fondazione Centro Studi Tiziano e Cadore.
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