Palazzo Ducale in Genoa presents the major exhibition Nostalgia. Modernity of a feeling from the Renaissance to the contemporary , which opens to the public from 25 April to 1 September 2024 in the rooms of the Doge's Apartment. The exhibition, curated by Matteo Fochessati in collaboration with Anna Vyazemtseva , is produced and created by the Palazzo Ducale Foundation for Culture and is part of the initiatives of Genoa Italian Capital of the Book.

The exhibition project involves over one hundred and twenty works that trace an itinerary through the figurative arts from the fifteenth century to the contemporary , whose common thread is the feeling of nostalgia expressed in different meanings and expressive methods. Among the masterpieces on display for the occasion, coming from loans from prestigious Italian and international museums and private collections, include works by Albrecht Dürer, Luca Giordano, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Francesco Hayez, Giovanni Boldini, Evelyn De Morgan, Giacomo Balla, Giorgio De Chirico, Florence Henri, Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein and Anish Kapoor .

The exhibition begins with the precious volume Dissertatio medica de Nostalgia (1688), from the Library of the University of Basel, in which Johannes Hofer identifies nostalgia as a real pathology that afflicts Swiss soldiers in particular during military trips. Starting from the volume, the exhibition traces a path along different eras that recounts nostalgia through a multitude of stories and points of view . From homesickness to nostalgia for elsewhere, from the classical era to the age of propaganda, from the intimate approach to the philosophical thrust, the exhibition itinerary winds through paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, graphics and illustrated volumes and returns the portrait choral of a universal and timeless feeling, describing different eras and sensibilities.

Nostalgia is accompanied by a catalog published by Electa Mondadori which traces the development of the exhibition through photographic documentation and contributions dedicated to the theme of nostalgia which, in addition to those of the curators, include the critical texts of the historian Ferdinando Fasce , the sociologist Paolo Jedlowski , the literary critic and poet Antonio Prete , the historian of modern French culture Thomas Dodman and the art and architecture historian Tim Benton.