Over 100 works by the iconic street art artist in the suggestive Rocca Maggiore from April 16 to November 2, 2025
BANKSY IN ASSISI, EXHIBITION-MESSAGE IN THE CITY OF PEACE
“Peace on Earth”: a unique exhibition promoted by the Municipality of Assisi, produced by Opera Laboratori and curated by Antonelli and Marziani
The provocative and revolutionary art of Banksy for the first time in Assisi, to send a message of peace and hope to the world. Over one hundred works by the iconic artist of contemporary street art will be on display from April 16 to November 2, 2025, in the land of Saint Francis. A unique project, inside the suggestive Rocca Maggiore, a medieval fortress and symbolic monument that dominates the UNESCO heritage city.
The exhibition –which boasts the patronage of the Umbria region, promoted by the Municipality of Assisi, produced by Opera Laboratori and curated by Stefano Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani – is entitled “Peace on Earth”, taking inspiration from the graffiti made by Banksy in Bethlehem, on a wall near the Milk Grotto. An iconic writing, which contains a note: “Terms and conditions apply”. This is the basis of the project, which proposes an investigation into the value of peace in Banksy’s art and sees as its symbol a dove with a bulletproof vest and an olive branch in its beak, which fights precisely to bring peace. A theme that animates both the spirit of the city of San Francesco, and the hand of the anonymous British artist and activist, who has always been committed to topics such as justice, freedom, environmental protection, pacifism, through irreverent works, where the dissident criticism of violence occurs through powerful images that are immediately accessible to all, between joy and irony.
“The ideal dialogue between Banksy and Saint Francis – say curators Antonelli and Marziani – brings our gaze to the role of the artist in today’s society, showing the ethical identity of a unique protagonist in his concrete commitment on the social front. Banksy is among those who construct visual messages intended for a global audience, with the idea that the work on the urban front is the perfect combination of a moral value and a space of wide diffusion such as a wall or a building in the city. Starting from the Franciscan Rule, from an essence that means stripping the message of the superfluous and the mundane: this is where Banksy meets the moral philosophy of Saint Francis, this is where art returns to being a collective and significant value”.
“The work – they continue – thus resumes its iconographic sacredness, its social weight in creating messages that speak of peace, tolerance, listening to the weakest, protection of children and the elderly. Moreover, the image we chose could not have been clearer in its content: a dove that fights for peace, carrying the olive branch not only in places of peace but also in contexts of war, so that the message of art is transformed into a rule of engagement towards dialogue. It seems to hear the soft echo of a red thread that connects views of the world centuries apart: because the founding values, let’s not forget, have remained the same since the dawn of time”.
The exhibition is divided into sections, placing the public in front of original works, which the artist created in his studio from 1998 to 2010. Among these are some iconic and highly valuable images, such as Flower Thrower, the flower thrower, and Girl with Balloon, the girl with the red heart-shaped balloon, in its original version from 2004. Extraordinary and exclusive pieces, because if many know Banksy’s public work, very few have access to his work produced in the studio. Materials ranging from the original signed and numbered silkscreens produced by Pictures On Walls from 2001 to 2009, to the entire production of original album covers made for Blur, Hombre records and Wall of Sound, the entire videography of Bansky, posters, books, t-shirts, original photographs, as well as works by artists who have inspired, collaborated and supported the British artist in his journey.
The exhibition project is the result of a multidisciplinary study, which makes use of the contributions of the curators, Paola Refice, director of the ABAP Superintendency of Frosinone, Latina and Rieti, Francesca Iannelli, professor of Aesthetics at the University of Roma Tre, Chiara Canali (PhD), curator and professor of artistic languages of new media at E-Campus, Giovanni Argan (PhD), researcher at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
All the contents of the exhibition, texts and images of the catalogue, published by the Sillabe publishing house, have been supervised, verified for accuracy and authenticity and approved on behalf of Banksy by Pest Control Office ltd, a company that operates on behalf of the artist and issues certificates of authenticity.
“Once again – emphasizes Valter Stoppini, acting mayor of the seraphic city – a warning against war and human ferocity, in favor of universal peace, starts from Assisi. A powerful cry, through the language of art, in the year in which we celebrate the eighth centenary of the Canticle of the Creatures, written by Saint Francis as a hymn to life and harmony between man and nature. An exhibition-message of great depth, capable of speaking to everyone, which makes Assisi even more of a protagonist in the national and international cultural panorama, relaunching its role as a city of peace, dialogue, beauty”.
“An extraordinary exhibition,” highlights Fabrizio Leggio, Assisi’s councilor for tourism and territorial marketing, “where contemporary art meets centuries of history, enhancing spaces and monuments that are symbols of the city, such as the evocative Rocca Maggiore. A modern message of peace, which Banksy brings to the world and which Assisi embodies and relaunches using all possible languages. An event of great cultural and social value, which proposes our city as a place where it is possible to live unique experiences.”
“Once again – comments Giuseppe Costa, president and CEO of Opera Laboratori – after the exhibition of Carlos Garaicoa we continue this union between contemporary art and the medieval architecture of the Rocca Maggiore, which stands out on the hill overlooking Assisi. Through our creative workshops, we give voice to the artists who live with us in the present and through different tools transmit their cultural and social message. In the year of the Jubilee, from the city of peace, a message of hope spreads, also through culture”.
“PEACE ON EARTH” – ROCCA MAGGIORE DI ASSISI
The exhibition “Peace on Earth” can be visited every day, from 16 April to 2 November 2025, during the opening hours of the Rocca Maggiore in Assisi.
From 01/04 al 31/05 everyday from 10.00 to 19.00
From 01/06 al 31/08 everyday from 10.00 to 20.00
From 1/09 al 30/09 everyday from 10.00 to 19.00
From 1/10 al 31/10 everyday from 10.00 to 18.00
From 1/11 al 31/12 everyday from 10.00 to 17.00
Info and booking
075 8138680
0577 286300
Assisi, 15 April 2025
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