The lands of the Reggio Emilia province, witnesses to a unique series of historical and human events, will be hosting an exhibition from 31 August 2008 to11 January 2009 dedicated to Matilde di Canossa (1046-1115), one of the most powerful and influential women in the Middle Ages, and to the cultural heritage that she passed on to a vast region, extending from the Po Valley to Tuscany, but which had its centre in the territory between Reggio Emilia, Canossa and other Apennine towns.

Reggio Emilia, at the three sites of Palazzo Magnani, the Diocesan Museum and the Civic Museums, and Canossa, at the Campanini Museum, will be hosting “MATILDE AND THE TREASURES OF THE CANOSSA FAMILY, from castles to cities”. This is the title of the exhibition set up by Arturo Calzona, lecturer in the History of Medieval Art at the University of Parma. The exhibition is promoted by the Province of Reggio Emilia, by the Dioceses of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla, by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, by the Cassa di Risparmio di Reggio Emilia "Pietro Manodori" Foundation, by the Architectural and Landscape Heritage Agency for the Provinces of Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia, by the Artistic History and Ethnic-Anthropological  Heritage Agency for the Provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, by the University of Parma, by the Reggio Emilia Chamber of Commerce, by the Appennino Reggiano Mountain Community, by Matilde di Canossa spa, under the Patronage of the President of the Republic and with the sponsorship of the Papal Commission for the Catholic Church’s Cultural Heritage, by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, by the Milan Delegation of the European Commission, by the Emilia Romagna Region and by the University of Parma. It will present 215 works that describe and reinterpret the most significant historic events in the life of the Countess, one of the most famous figures in medieval history, such as the Council in Guastalla called by Paschal II in 1106 and the meeting between Matilde and Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV.

 

The exhibition has made use of the services of a prestigious Scientific Committee composed of professors and lecturers including leading experts on the History of Medieval Art at an international level.

Isabella Baldini Luppolis (University of Bologna)

Marcello Balzani (University of Ferrara)

Giacomo Baroffio (University of Pavia)

Gianluca Bottazzi (University of Parma)

Ute- Renate Blumenthal (Catholic University of America – Washington d.c)

Glauco Maria Cantarella (University of Bologna)

Cornelius Claussen (Universität Zürich)

Renata Curina (from the Archaeological Heritage Agency of Emilia Romagna)

Claudio Franzoni (Art historian)

Dorothy Glass (University at Buffalo - New York)

Tiziano Ghirelli (Director of the Diocesan Museum of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla)

Tiziana Lazzari (University of Bologna)

Umberto Longo (University of Pisa)

Angelo Mazza (from the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage Agency for the Provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

Roberto Macellari (Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia)

Attilio Marchesini (Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia)

Massimo Mussini (University of Parma)

Antonio Paolucci (Vatican Museums, Vatican City)

Adelaide Ricci (University of Parma)

Stefano Riccioni (Chercheur associé, UMR 5594, CNRS, Université de Dijon)

Daniela Romagnoli (University of Parma)

Serena Romano (Université de Lausanne)

Luigi Russo (University of Bologna)

Mauro Severi (Director of the restoration of Reggio Emilia Cathedral)