The Birth of Rome

November 22, 2013–May 18, 2014
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

The Birth of Rome presented modern architectural and urban-planning projects that cultivated the perception of a storied Italian nation rooted in a mythologized past. On display for the first time, artist Ferruccio Ferrazzi’s colossal study for the mosaic The Myth of Rome served as an anchor for a series of focus studies that documented the alliance between art, architecture, and ideology in Italy under Benito Mussolini. Ferrazzi designed the mosaic in 1938 as a government commission for one of the buildings surrounding the recently excavated Mausoleum of Augustus. The display also included a selection of studies for additional mosaics designed by Ferrazzi as part of the overall The Myth of Rome installation in the Piazza Augusto Imperatore. 

The Birth of Rome was part of Rebirth of Rome, a series of presentations at The Wolfsonian highlighting art and design in interwar Italy. It was made possible by the Italian Consulate General Miami, the Italian Cultural Institute New York, the United States Consular Agency Genoa, and the Wolfsoniana–Fondazione Regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo in Genoa, to mark the Year of Italian Culture in the United States, with additional support from Gucci, Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., the Poltrona Frau Group Miami, the Funding Arts Network, the Leon Levy Foundation, Aprile SpA, and Ansaldo Energy Inc. The Wolfsonian also thanks Mitchell Wolfson, Jr., Marcello Cambi in Genoa, and the Wolfsoniana–FRCS for generous loans to the project.