Rome’s Casa Balla to be a permanent museum

Italy’s culture ministry announced on Wednesday that the state has purchased the former Rome home of renowned Futurist painter Giacomo Balla.

The vibrant residence, known as Casa Balla, has been partially open to visitors since 2021 but will now become a permanent, state-run house museum.

According to the ministry, the €6.9 million acquisition includes both the property and its copyright – €6 million for Balla’s artworks and furnishings, and €900,000 for the building itself.

Balla, one of the leading figures of Italy’s early 20th-century Futurism movement, lived and worked at Casa Balla on Via Oslavia in Rome’s Prati district from 1929 until his death in 1958.

Born in Turin in 1871, Balla shared the home with his wife Elisa and their daughters, Luce and Elica, both of whom were also artists. The sisters continued living there until the 1990s, after which the house remained closed for three decades.

In 2021, the public was invited inside for the first time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Balla’s birth, offering a rare glimpse into his kaleidoscopic world of color and creativity.

Source: Wanted in Rome 

Adapted by: Kate Netzer