Bernini e i Barberini

12 February 2026 - 14 June 2026

Following the success of Caravaggio 2025, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica are pleased to present Bernini e i Barberini, a major new exhibition on view at Palazzo Barberini from 12 February to 14 June 2026. Curated by Andrea Bacchi and Maurizia Cicconi, the exhibition explores the extraordinary relationship between Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Maffeo Barberini, his first and most influential patron, who took the name Urban VIII upon his election to the papacy in 1623.

The exhibition will be realized with the support of Main Partner Intesa Sanpaolo and under the patronage of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in the Vatican. It will offer an unprecedented opportunity to reconsider the birth of the Baroque through the privileged lens of the artistic, political, and personal dialogue between Bernini and Pope Urban VIII, key figures in the establishment of the Baroque language. The event also coincides with the four-hundredth anniversary of the consecration of the new St. Peter’s Basilica (1626), a landmark moment in the history of Roman Baroque and in Bernini’s career.

Bernini e i Barberini will benefit from the support of Coopculture as technical partner.

Tickets on presale from December the 4th on the website www.coopculture.it