An exhibition in Novara on the Italy of the first Italians

Have you ever wanted to see Italy taking shape, as if you were there, with your eyes filled with wonder and your heart open to the future? If the answer is yes, there is an exhibition waiting for you in Novara that you should not miss. It is entitled “The Italy of the first Italians. Portrait of a newly born nation” and takes you on a visual journey through 19th-century Italy, a country still learning to know and define itself as a nation.

The Italy of the first Italians. Portrait of a newly born nation

From 1 November 2025 to 6 April 2026, the splendid rooms of Novara Castle will host over eighty works created between the 1860s and the first decade of the 20th century.

The exhibition, curated by Elisabetta Chiodini and organised by METS together with the Municipality and the Castello Foundation, is designed to use powerful images to recount the political, social and cultural transformations that shaped the Italian identity as we know it today.

This exhibition is a journey through Italy as it was becoming Italy.

The exhibition is divided into seven thematic sections.

Each room is a window onto the past, guiding you through the landscapes, cities, faces and atmospheres of an era poised between tradition and modernity.

It begins with rural life, portrayed with an authentic and poetic gaze by great masters such as Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe De Nittis, Stefano Bruzzi and Francesco Paolo Michetti. From the Alps to Sicily, agricultural Italy reveals itself in its slow and profound rhythms.

The exhibition continues along the coast, in a section that recounts the more than 8,000 kilometres of coastline between cliffs, ports and villages overlooking the sea. Here you will encounter works by Giovanni Fattori, Rubens Santoro and Mosè Bianchi, which describe a country stretching out towards the sea and its promises.

Changing scene, the third section takes you to the heart of Italian cities: Turin, Florence, Rome and vibrant Milan, already defined by Verga as the “most city-like city in Italy”. The paintings of Filippo Carcano and Pio Joris depict the first Italian metropolises, amid progress, industry and a desire for modernity.

This is followed by an enchanting section dedicated to the leisure time of the bourgeoisie. On display are elegant gardens, refined salons and holiday scenes painted by Ettore Tito, Pompeo Mariani and Luigi Gioli. A sort of colour photograph of the urban elite in search of leisure and beauty.

One of the most surprising sections is dedicated to women and their relationship with art.

Not only muses or collectors, but also painters, travellers and active protagonists of the cultural scene. Here, the works of Silvestro Lega and Odoardo Borrani offer intense and affectionate portraits of a femininity that is still to be explored.

The exhibition also tackles more raw and less represented themes, such as prostitution in the 19th century, with a powerful selection of paintings, including those by Angelo Morbelli. The last section is a fresco of life in large modern cities, where luxury coexists with misery and where each scene recounts the tension between what one is and what one would like to become. The canvases by Emilio Longoni, Giovanni Sottocornola and Francesco Netti recount social contradictions with a lucid and touching gaze.

Why visit this exhibition

Because it’s like opening a large family album and discovering who we were when we were still under construction.

Each room is a chapter that also tells your story, your grandparents’ and your great-grandparents’. It’s not a history lesson but a living story, made up of emotions, colours and details.

Novara awaits you to enjoy this unique experience. Don’t miss it. Take the train, treat yourself to a day at the Castle, breathe in history through the brushes of those who lived and painted it.

Information for visiting the exhibition

Tickets are already available online

The Italy of the first Italians. Portrait of a newly born nation
Curated by Elisabetta Chiodini
Novara Castle
From 1 November 2025 to 6 April 2026

Opening hours

Tuesday – Sunday 10:00 – 19:00 (ticket office closes at 18:00)

I am already ready to lose myself among those ancient faces which, after all, still resemble us very much. How about you?