A petition has been launched on change.org to ask the Ministry of Culture and relevant institutions to consider recognizing Luigi Serafini’s House-Studio as a cultural asset of national interest, to initiate the necessary procedures for its protection and preservation, and to promote initiatives that ensure its public accessibility and enhancement for future generations.
The goal is to save one of Rome’s most visionary places, threatened by an eviction procedure initiated by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.), the property’s current owner, which “endangers its preservation as a rare and irreplaceable cultural heritage.” The house in question, a short walk from the Pantheon, is a total work of art, where painting, sculpture, architecture and design come together in an immersive experience.
Since 1987, the artist, architect and author of the famous Codex Seraphinianus has been shaping his home-studio for nearly four decades: a place where art can be breathed in every room, and which today is in danger of disappearing.
Its importance became clear during Open House Roma 2025, the capital’s largest event dedicated to architecture and organized by the Open City Roma Association, when for the first time the House-Studio opened its doors to the public. In just two days, more than 1,000 visitors passed through the place, confirming its cultural and symbolic value not only for art lovers, but for the whole community.
Luigi Serafini is known worldwide for Codex Seraphinianus (1981), an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world. Published by Franco Maria Ricci, the work has become an object of study, fascinating critics and artists from all over the world. Italo Calvino, in his preface to the French edition, spoke of “the intoxication of pure invention,” while art historian Federico Zeri caught references in it to “Arcimboldi and Bosch, the ’useless machines’ of Munari, Fabrizio Clerici’s ’Temples of the Egg,’ Gaudi, Laforgue’s verbal alchemy, Roussel’s abstract paradox, Savinio’s surrealism, and much more.”
Today, saving Luigi Serafini’s Casa-Studio means preserving a unicum in the Italian art scene, a place where art lives and inspires. A necessary gesture to ensure that this space remains alive, accessible, and capable of inspiring future generations.
Photo by Carlo Casalini
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| A petition to save Luigi Serafini's House-Studio, a total work of art in the heart of Rome |
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