For the third consecutive year, the crypt of San Jacopo in Acquaviva is once again a landmark for contemporary art in Livorno. From June 27 to July 13, 2025, the committee the Forgotten Jewel proposes Sancta Sanctorum, a solo exhibition by Jacopo Dimastrogiovanni (Livorno, 1981), curated by art historian Jacopo Suggi. The initiative confirms the vocation of the site, a millennial space located in Piazza San Jacopo in Acquaviva, to become a crossroads of reflections between spirituality, time and artistic languages of the present. The exhibition represents a return of the artist to Livorno, his hometown, and at the same time a moment of synthesis of a research started ten years ago.
Dimastrogiovanni, a native of Livorno but a native of Trentino by adoption, has emerged in recent years as one of the most interesting voices in contemporary Italian painting. A finalist for prizes of national and international importance, such as the Combat Prize, the Arte Laguna Prize and the Exibart Prize, he has exhibited in prestigious museum venues and galleries, including MART in Rovereto, the St. James Cavalier Centre in Valletta (Malta) and Mondoromulo Arte Contemporanea in Castelvenere (BN).
At the center of the exhibition Sancta Sanctorum is a reflection on the relationship between sacred art and contemporaneity, developed through a selection of works that analyze the themes of symbolic emptiness, loss of meaning and collective memory. The core of the exhibition revolves around the painting cycle Iniuria, initiated in 2015 following the theft of seventeen masterpieces from the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona. An episode that deeply affected Dimastrogiovanni, prompting him to a sharp pictorial reaction: to deform the images, to denounce the wound and question the intrinsic value of the stolen works. The canvases of the Iniuria series are characterized by a calculated visual distortion, which alters and challenges the perception of the original, returning to the viewer an “emptied” form of art, witnessing a violation. It is from this pictorial operation that a broader reflection on the function of sacred art in our time unfolds. In an age marked by a progressive shift from the sacred to the secular, the artist proposes a language that, while recalling stylistic features and subjects of the religious tradition, redefines its contours through a critical and conscious pictorial gesture.
The setting in the crypt contributes to the sense of the exhibition. The hypogeal environments, charged with history and spirituality, dialogue with Dimastrogiovanni’s works, generating a tension between what has been treasured over time and what is in danger of being forgotten today. The coexistence of historical artifacts and contemporary art suggests a direct confrontation between worship and culture, between the visibility of heritage and its progressive marginalization. Among the works on display, an unprecedented one stands out: a personal reworking of Alessandro Gherardini’sImmaculate Conception, once kept in the Huygens Villa in the Valle Benedetta and now relegated to the Uffizi Gallery’s storage rooms. The work fits into the broader discourse pursued by Dimastrogiovanni: the analysis of the invisibility of artistic heritage and public responsibility in its enjoyment. The artist questions the mechanisms through which the value of art is decided, preserved, hidden or exhibited. In this context, the homage to his hometown is charged with a civil and cultural urgency.
Dimastrogiovanni invites us to look anew at what time and habit risk blurring: the layering of meanings held in the places, paintings, and gestures of care or neglect of our heritage. On the occasion of the opening, the artist and curator will take visitors on a short guided tour, offering additional keys to understanding the exhibition. The event, with free admission, is promoted by the committee the Forgotten Jewel with the sponsorship of the City of Livorno, Premio Combat and Mondoromulo Contemporary Art Gallery. The exhibition will be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 9-11 p.m., until July 13.
Jacopo Dimastrogiovanni was born in Livorno in 1981. After graduating with honors in Law from the University of Trento in 2006, he continued his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts “G.B. Cignaroli” in Verona, under the guidance of Silvio Lacasella, until 2011. Since 2007 he has started a constant collaboration with Italian and international galleries. His solo exhibitions include Ecce omnes (Mondoromulo Arte Contemporanea, Castelvenere - Benevento, 2022), Iniuria (Zaion Gallery, Biella, 2020) and Dialogo (Molesworth Gallery, Dublin - Ireland, 2012). After participating in the 54th Venice Biennale (Italian Pavilion, Turin), he was invited in 2013 to exhibit at MART in Rovereto in the group show In resonance. Snapshots of creativity in the brain, curated by Gabriele Lorenzoni and Francesca Bacci. Two years later, he presented the project Afterselfie - beyond masks at the St James Cavalier Centre in Valletta, Malta, at the invitation of Carolina Bortolotti. In 2019 he won the Residency Prize at Artkeys Prize, exhibiting in 2020 inside the Angevin-Aragonese Castle in Agropoli (SA). Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards, being selected for major festivals such as the Combat Prize (2011), the Arte Laguna Prize (2022) and the Exibart Prize (2024 and 2025). Since 2014 he has been teaching painting and drawing in Trento, where he currently resides and works.
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| Jacopo Dimastrogiovanni exhibits a pictorial survey of sacred art in the crypt of San Jacopo |
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