Quali souvenir si portavano a casa dal Grand Tour? A Milano una mostra per scoprirlo
The Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan has announced a major exhibition for 2026 dedicated to the Grand Tour, the historic educational journey undertaken by European aristocrats through Italy. Moving beyond traditional landscape paintings, the show explores the material culture of 18th and 19th-century travel, featuring maps, notebooks, luxury jewelry, and fans that served as high-end souvenirs. A centerpiece of the exhibition is Giovanni Paolo Panini’s masterpiece 'Roma Antica,' which will be presented alongside a cinematic reinterpretation by director Ferzan Özpetek.
This exhibition matters because it recontextualizes the origins of modern tourism and the 'Made in Italy' brand through the lens of art history and material culture. By focusing on the figure of Giovanni Paolo Panini and the 'capriccio' genre, the museum highlights how artists functioned as the original creators of travel memories before the invention of photography. The collaboration with filmmaker Ferzan Özpetek further signals a trend of Italian museums using contemporary digital storytelling to make classical art more immersive for modern audiences.