The Rocca Sanvitale in Sala Baganza opens its doors to an unprecedented encounter between memory and creativity. The Apartment of Duke Antonio Farnese, frescoed in 1724 by Sebastiano Galeotti and recently reopened to the public, becomes the setting for a project that intertwines the charm of history with contemporary artistic research.

Located in the Parma Valleys, a few kilometers from the Emilian capital, Sala Baganza houses one of the most representative historic residences of the area: the Rocca Sanvitale, today the nerve center of the cultural life of the community. Inside, the Farnese Apartment tells the memory of the last duke of the family, Antonio, and offers a rare example of Baroque decoration thanks to the frescoes by Galeotti.

Right here, the Municipality of Sala Baganza invited the Brera Academy of Fine Arts to create a residency: ten students from the School of Painting, coordinated by professors Alberto Reggianini and Dario Taormina, lived and interpreted these environments, letting themselves be inspired by the stratifications of time and the suggestion of spaces. The works born in this path today create a dialogue with the past, imagining new contemporary commissions.

The project also makes use of the collaboration of the National Academy of Fine Arts of Parma, which has been working with the Municipality for decades for the enhancement of the Rocca. The Academicians Elisabetta Fadda, Carlo Mambriani and Alessandro Malinverni contributed with highly popular studies and texts, made available to students in view of the residency.

The inauguration is scheduled for Sunday, September 7 at 11:00 a.m., followed by the musical intervention “Di-Stanze”, by ParmaJazz Frontiere with the students of the Arrigo Boito Conservatory of Parma and the Chironomic Orchestra.

The exhibition will be open until November 9, 2025, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 15:00 to 18:00 (last admission at 17:30). The entrance ticket to the exhibition alone is 5 euros.

Throughout the year it is also possible to visit the Apartment of Duke Antonio Farnese with dedicated guided tours: info here

With “New Residences”, the Municipality of Sala Baganza reaffirms its desire to make the Rocca Sanvitale a laboratory of cultural production and reflection: a space where history meets the new generations and art becomes a bridge between past and future.