Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia opened its doors this weekend to a remarkable journey through more than half a century of painting by Giuseppe Cristofani.
The exhibition, simply titled “Antologica di Giuseppe Cristofani 1973–2026”, brings together works produced across more than fifty years, and the range is immediately apparent on entering the gallery.
Cristofani moves easily between still life, landscape, flowers and more abstract compositions, but throughout the exhibition there is one constant: colour.
At times it is carefully controlled, as in the large still lifes where fruit, vegetables, flowers and folded paper are arranged almost theatrically against dark backgrounds. Elsewhere the paint becomes much freer — loose brushstrokes, strong greens, yellows and pinks taking over the surface.
And then there is Barga.
The city appears repeatedly, sometimes unmistakably and sometimes almost as a memory. The Duomo rises above rooftops and gardens; familiar buildings are transformed through colour; flowers and vegetation push their way into views of the historic centre.
One painting looks towards Barga across a table laden with fruit, a polished metal jug reflecting its surroundings while the Duomo sits on the hill beyond. In another, the cathedral becomes a mass of warm ochres beneath a blue sky. Elsewhere, a Barga street is reduced to blocks of yellow, green, violet and orange.
The opening at Palazzo Pancrazi brought friends and visitors together to celebrate Cristofani and a body of work extending from 1973 to 2026.
More than fifty years separate the earliest and most recent works in the exhibition. Seen together, they form not simply a retrospective but a visual diary: one painter, many different ways of seeing, and Barga appearing again and again along the way.
“Antologica di Giuseppe Cristofani 1973–2026” is at Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga from 5 to 18 October 2026.
Giuseppe Cristofani: a life in colour
Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia opened its doors this weekend to a remarkable journey through more than half a century of painting by Giuseppe Cristofani.
The exhibition, simply titled “Antologica di Giuseppe Cristofani 1973–2026”, brings together works produced across more than fifty years, and the range is immediately apparent on entering the gallery.
Cristofani moves easily between still life, landscape, flowers and more abstract compositions, but throughout the exhibition there is one constant: colour.
At times it is carefully controlled, as in the large still lifes where fruit, vegetables, flowers and folded paper are arranged almost theatrically against dark backgrounds. Elsewhere the paint becomes much freer — loose brushstrokes, strong greens, yellows and pinks taking over the surface.
And then there is Barga.
The city appears repeatedly, sometimes unmistakably and sometimes almost as a memory. The Duomo rises above rooftops and gardens; familiar buildings are transformed through colour; flowers and vegetation push their way into views of the historic centre.
One painting looks towards Barga across a table laden with fruit, a polished metal jug reflecting its surroundings while the Duomo sits on the hill beyond. In another, the cathedral becomes a mass of warm ochres beneath a blue sky. Elsewhere, a Barga street is reduced to blocks of yellow, green, violet and orange.
The opening at Palazzo Pancrazi brought friends and visitors together to celebrate Cristofani and a body of work extending from 1973 to 2026.
More than fifty years separate the earliest and most recent works in the exhibition. Seen together, they form not simply a retrospective but a visual diary: one painter, many different ways of seeing, and Barga appearing again and again along the way.
“Antologica di Giuseppe Cristofani 1973–2026” is at Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga from 5 to 18 October 2026.
