In the old town of Barletta, on Puglia's Adriatic coast, an unexpected pairing has taken over the rooms of Palazzo Della Marra. A work by Andy Warhol, Cantaloupes II, hangs in conversation with paintings by Giuseppe De Nittis, the city's most celebrated painter.
The exhibition is titled La tendenza astratta nell'Impressionismo. It invites you to look at two very different artists through the same lens.
When Pop Art walks into a Baroque palace
The setting is half the surprise. The palace is a historic home for De Nittis's work, so Warhol's piece arrives as a guest in a house of nineteenth-century light.
That contrast is the point. Bold, graphic Pop colour sits beside soft brushwork, and each makes the other look new.
The thread between Warhol and De Nittis
De Nittis, born in Barletta, moved in the Impressionist circles of Paris and painted fleeting light, weather and everyday life. Warhol turned ordinary subjects, even a humble fruit, into icons.
The curatorial idea is to find the abstract tendency inside Impressionism. Look at how forms dissolve into colour and rhythm, and how a subject becomes almost a pretext.
- Notice how colour carries the composition more than the subject itself
- Compare Warhol's flat, vivid surfaces with De Nittis's atmospheric, feathery strokes
- Step back and then move close to see how each work changes
- Let the contrast between the two eras guide the order of your visit
How to enjoy it without rushing
This is an intimate show, not a marathon. Count on a relaxed visit, with time to return to the one painting that caught you.
It works for a couple wandering together, for friends who like to debate what they see, or for families curious to show children that art can be playful. Kids tend to enjoy spotting the fruit and the colours.
Barletta around the exhibition
Once you step outside, the city offers plenty to fill the day. Walk to the Castello Svevo and the cathedral, and stop to see the Colosso, the giant bronze statue that is a symbol of Barletta.
For lunch, head toward the seafront promenade, the lungomare, for fresh fish and a glass of local wine. Trani, with its famous cathedral by the sea, is a short drive away and makes a natural second stop.
Go in the late morning, when the rooms are calm and the daylight outside is still bright. Then finish with an aperitivo in the old streets.