In the outdoor spaces of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome – located in the Renaissance Villa commissioned by Pope Julius III, a lover of arts and beauty – from November 7, 2025, to February 6, 2026, the artist Marcello Maloberti (Codogno, Lodi, 1966) presents POETRY, curated by Cristiana Perrella, a luminous installation, specially designed for the museum.

Built between 1551 and 1553 based on a design by Jacopo Barozzi known as Vignola, Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Ammannati, Villa Giulia is the Renaissance setting that houses the large neon sign with white light of the word POETRY upside down conceived by the artist. The letters, reflecting the handwriting of Maloberti himself, appear as if suspended, supported only by a metal structure of innocent pipes, a temporary architecture that alludes to the idea of a construction site, urban scenery, and thetemporary.

The work, like an apparition, quietly integrates into the monumentality of the place, illuminating the architecture with a reversal, an upside-down word that seems to have fallen from the sky creating a visual vertigo that invites to read reality with new eyes. Art, after all, like poetry, acts as a device of disorientation and revelation.

Throughout his research, Marcello Maloberti has delved into the art/life binomial using a variety of languages – photography, video, performance, installation, objects, and collage – all imbued with a strong performative component and interaction with the public. Going beyond the everyday, with a neorealist, alienating, and dreamlike gaze, and an archaeological approach to the history of art, the artist explores themes such as the poetic dimension of words, the sacredness of the everyday, and the interest in the transformations of the urban landscape.