'Impossible' Caravaggio exhibition opens

The exhibition Caravaggio - Una Mostra Impossibile opened yesterday at the Caraffa Stores on the Vittoriosa Waterfront.

The Cottonera Waterfront Group, at a cost of Lm150,000, has just restored the Caraffa Stores, and the building has been temporarily loaned to the Caravaggio Foundation for the exhibition.

Caravaggio - Una Mostra Impossibile is the work of the Italian state broadcasting network, RAI, and is made up of 68 digital, actual-size transparencies of the great works of art of the 16th century Italian artist, Michelangelo Merisi di Caravaggio.

They include the impressive Beheading of St John, in what is being known as the 'Malta room', which visitors can enter free of charge.

A small fee is charged for the rest of the exhibition, which was most recently shown in Rome at the Castel Sant'Angelo, where it drew more than 145,000 visitors. A crew from RAI will be in Malta to document the Caraffa Stores display.

The exhibition will remain open until the end of June. There will be a variety of performances by leading Maltese and international musicians and dancers on several evenings.

They include Etnika, Gillian Zammit, Rosetta de Battista, the Dominic Galea Trio, Renzo Spiteri, the highly-ranked guitarist Emanuele Segre, who will perform works by Gordon Mizzi, the Versatile Brass Ensemble, soprano Claire Massa, international jazz pianist Mike del Ferro, and Tsezar Fuse DMuse.

Leading European scholars will also be giving talks about the life and work of Caravaggio at the Caraffa Stores, St John's Co Cathedral and the Mdina Cathedral Museum. They include John Spike, and Sergio Benedetti, who identified Caravaggio's Taking of Christ in Dublin. A full schedule of these events is available at www. Caravaggio.com.

Tickets are available from St James Cavalier in Valletta.