The Italian art of XX century and the cultural diplomacy. The Farnesina Collection

This paper is a summary of an extensive research project, aimed to highlight the strong aspects of innovation of a unique experience in the field of cultural economics: the twentieth-century italian art collection at the «Farnesina » in Rome (the building Head Office of the Italian Foreign Ministry), established in 2000. First of all, innovative aspect is the trend of modern cultural diplomacy, in social and economic field as well as in relations between states. Unique characteristic of the collection is the free loan of the artworks, from the artists and collectors, with an average duration of about 36 months. The loan enabled an original public-private relationship: organizational, economic, «network», as well as artistic. The location «Palazzo La Farnesina» is also characteristic: an historical building designed by italian famous architects in the thirties years of last century and definitively erected in the fifties. All the italian art movements and most important artists are or were in the collection: the total amount of artworks displayed today is more than 400 and other 400 pieces were shown in the 15 years. The research investigated also the Collection Farnesina as a new modern museum in the debate of contemporary museology and cultural economics: aspects like district and network.