In anticipation of the official opening scheduled for 2026, Museo Sant’Orsola is organizing a series of exhibitions invading the spaces of the building site, inviting contemporary artists to bring their gaze to the monument and its history. From exhibit to exhibit, visitors will be able to participate in the rebirth of the place and gradually reclaim spaces that have been taken away from the city’s life for too long.
The Rose That Grew From Concrete (5 September 2025 – 4 January 2026)
Chiara Bettazzi, Bottega Bianco Bianchi Scagliole, Mireille Blanc, Bianca Bondi, Davidovici & Ctiborsky, Marion Flament, Federico Gori, Beate Höing, Flora Moscovici, Chris Oh, Elise Peroi, Clara Rivault, Shubha Taparia
The third and final edition of the exhibitions before the official launch of the renovation works, this group show brings together fourteen Italian and international artistic voices who engage with the space of the former convent not only to recount its transformations, but also to symbolically tend to its wounds.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by a celebrated poem by the African American artist Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971–1996): the image of the rose growing from concrete, evoked in his verses, becomes a metaphor for the ability to be reborn despite adversity just as the former monastery of Sant’Orsola has done through the various stages of its history. Through site-specific works created using different languages and materials, each artist reinterprets the cycles of occupation, construction, and abandonment that have shaped the place. Many of the techniques employed are rooted in traditional crafts—such as embroidery, scagliola, and gold leaf—but are reimagined through a contemporary lens. Sant’Orsola thus enters a new season of regeneration, with art as its driving force.