In celebration of the 500^th anniversary of Raffaello Sanzio’s death on Monday, 6 April, the Parco archeologico del Colosseo in collaboration with Electa is launching a Facebook marathon dedicated to the master painter from Urbino, with the event “Raffaello in Domus Aurea: #MaratonaRaffaello online“.

In keeping with the host of other events organized for the #laculturanonsiferma and #iorestoacasa campaigns, and in anticipation of its official inauguration, the exhibition “Raffaello e la Domus Aurea. L’invenzione delle grottesche“ (Raphael and the Domus Aurea. The invention of grotesques) will open its doors to the public online, where visitors will be able to view the evocative spaces of Nero’s residence in a brand-new light. The day-long event starts at 12:30 and gives viewers the chance to take part in the #MaratonaRaffaello event from home with previews of the exhibition spaces and exclusive access to the architecture and ornamentation of the Domus Aurea.

One after another, the posts in the event’s discussion will help guests rediscover the relationship between Renaissance painting and Roman painting, through virtual reconstructions, reinterpretations and comparisons between some of leading figures in Italian art history.

The Facebook event will allow viewers to get right into the heart of the exhibition — curated by Vincenzo Farinella with Stefano Borghini and Alessandro D’Alessio, promoted by the Parco archeologico del Colosseo and sponsored by Electa — with the goal of telling the exceptional story of the rediscovery of ancient painting buried in the “grottos” of Nero’s original Domus Aurea. The story begins around 1480, when painters (the first among them Pinturicchio, Filippino Lippi and Signorelli) began venturing into the cavities of the Oppian Hill — defined as grottos — to admire by torchlight the ancient Roman wall paintings that from that moment on would be known as “grotesques”.