Numerous guests attended the opening of the new temporary exhibition, Art Histories, which presents works that have been added to the Casa di Goethe Museum collection in recent years. Many “art histories” were told during the evening by Gregor H. Lersch, Andreas Krüger from the Cultural Office of the German Embassy in Rome, Konrad Heumann from the Freies Deutsches Hochstift and member of the ASKI board, and Claudia Nordhoff, research assistant at the Casa di Goethe.
The exhibition remains open until 12 April 2026.
Here are some impressions of the event.
On Friday, 23 January 2026, the Minister of State for Culture and Media, Wolfram Weimer, and the Italian Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, visited Casa di Goethe in Rome as part of the German-Italian government consultations.
After a guided tour of the museum, Wolfram Weimer and Gregor H. Lersch, Director of the Casa di Goethe, presented the new German-Italian cooperation project Auf den Spuren von Goethes Italienischer Reise (In the Footsteps of Goethe’s Italian Journey). Minister of State Weimer said: ‘We are thus reviving the “Italian Journey” and creating a pilgrimage route in Goethe’s footsteps. In doing so, we are giving the Italiensehnsucht, the longing for Italy, a new source of inspiration.’
Gregor H. Lersch explained: “We are very pleased about the new initiative, which will further promote Goethe’s Italian Journey – the central theme of the Casa di Goethe – internationally. As a first step, we are currently developing a digital game in which Goethe’s route can be explored from different perspectives. In addition, an exhibition is planned for autumn 2026 in Rome, which will be dedicated, among other things, to the reception of Goethe in Italian art and literature, building a bridge from Goethe’s time to the present day.”
Early in the morning, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding for the cooperation project on Goethe’s Italian Journey and for the extension of the Mazzucchetti-Gschwend Translation Prize, which, in cooperation with the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, the Goethe-Institut Italy and the Casa di Goethe, honours the work of translators as indispensable mediators between cultures.
Foto: © Andrea Veneri
An engaging evening full of new stories to be discovered with OTHER FORMS OF SENSING – 120 years of Villa Romana Florenz in which Casa di Goethe, on December 4th, 2025, has been transformed into an experimental space with site specific works, performances and installations. Special thanks to the artists fellows of Villa Romana Raul Walch, Sajan Mani, Chaveli Sifre, Elia Nurvista, and ot Elena Agudio and Mistura Allison, who, with the moderation of Gregor H. Lersch have given a deep insight into the life and history of Villa Romana.
In collaboration with Villa Romana, Florenz
Sponsored by Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung
With the kind support of the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo
Photos: @ Andrea Veneri
Claudia Nordhoff, curator of the exhibition “Italy in lines. Master Drawings by Christoph Heinrich Kniep”, gives a lecture at the Goethemuseum Düsseldorf on 15 October on the subject of “Christoph Heinrich Kniep, Goethe’s illustrator. An artist’s life in Rome and Naples”.
The lecture will trace the life of the artist Christoph Heinrich Kniep, who travelled from Hamburg to Rome to join the German artist community there, and finally to Naples, where Kniep lived and worked for forty years. His journey with Goethe will be examined in detail, as will his work in Rome and Naples, where his drawings were highly sought after by travellers.
Photo: Christoph Heinrich Kniep (1755-1825): Ideal landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe and echoes of the Bay of Palermo with Monte Pellegrino. Washed ink over pen and ink drawing, 1787. From the collection of the Goethe Museum/Anton and Katharina Kippenberg Stiftung
On 24 September, we inaugurated the exhibition ‘Italy in Lines. Master Drawings by Christoph Heinrich Kniep’, curated by Claudia Nordhoff, with a large audience very interested in the highly detailed landscapes of the German artist who accompanied Goethe on his journey to Sicily.
The exhibition is open until 11 January 2026. We look forward to seeing you there!
An exhibition in collaboration with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Directorate of Mueums
With kind support of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Tavolozza Foundation
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