In the Spirit of Francesco: The Art of Craftsmanship at Palazzo Piacentini

In Rome, an exhibition by Confrestauro explores restoration, sacred art, and craftsmanship through four gestures inspired by St. Francis through October 2, 2026.

Before a work of art is displayed again, someone has examined its flaws. Before a fabric or pigment takes shape, there are hands skilled in understanding the material and respecting its natural processes. It is this work—often invisible to those who see only the final result—that is highlighted in Italian Excellence in the Spirit of Francis: Making the Invisible Visible.

The Confrestauro exhibition was inaugurated on September 23 by Minister Adolfo Urso at Palazzo Piacentini, headquarters of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, where it will remain open to the public through October 2. Organized at the invitation of the Ministry and under the patronage of the National Committee for the Eighth Centenary of the Death of St. Francis of Assisi, the exhibition is part of the celebrations dedicated to the saint. The exhibition is structured around four actions—repairing, working, preserving, making visible—that connect Franciscan spirituality with the crafts of art and restoration.

The first gesture takes shape in the installation by Progetto Arte Poli. The Cross of San Damiano, reproduced in blown, engraved, and painted glass, engages in a dialogue with the Cross of Hope by master Albano Poli, cast in bronze using the lost-wax casting technique. Between the transparency of glass and the solidity of bronze, repairing takes on a meaning that goes beyond simply working on an object: it is an attempt to care for what is fragile and restore its potential for life.

Rubelli interprets working through the encounter between a hemp fabric and the brocade that covers the pouf on which it rests. The Venetian company, with over 130 years of history, thus combines two materials that evoke simplicity and opulence, recalling the different seasons of Francesco’s life. What unites them is craftsmanship: a skill that is honed over time and allows the textile tradition to continue to express itself.

For Dolci Colori, a Verona-based company that has been producing natural earth pigments and pigments for art and restoration since 1910, preserving means understanding the origin of the material and knowing how to transform it. A composition of pigments organized according to air, earth, water, and fire brings to light the wealth of knowledge that accompanies every color. Preserving it also means passing it on to future generations.

Finally, General Marmi and Tortuga Design entrust stone with the task of making the invisible visible. A baptismal font carved from an erratic boulder reveals, through its craftsmanship, a form and meaning that the material already held within it. The work thus evokes the idea of new life, central to the act of baptism.

Curated by Federica Pascolutti and Tiziana Armillotta, with general and content coordination by Tiziana Pelizzon, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on what precedes beauty in its fullest form: the research, the experience, and the care required to decide how to intervene.

In the spirit of Francesco, Italian craftsmanship also emerges as a way of caring for what we have received and passing it on to the future.