Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, commonly known as MACRO, is a municipal contemporary art museum in Rome, Italy. Established in 1999 and officially inaugurated in 2002, it operates across two sites: a former Peroni brewery in Via Nizza in the Salario-Nomentano district near Porta Pia, and a former slaughterhouse in Piazza Orazio Giustiniani in the Testaccio district. As Rome's primary public institution dedicated to contemporary art, MACRO holds particular significance for its concentration on Italian artistic production from the 1960s onward, housed within dramatically repurposed industrial architecture.

The museum's origins trace back to 1883, when the municipality of Rome acquired works from the Esposizione internazionale di Belle Arti with the aim of creating a modern and contemporary art gallery. In 1925, the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea was formally established at Palazzo Caffarelli on the Capitoline Hill. The collection underwent various relocations and disruptions, including suppression in 1938 and transfer to the Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna, reconstitution in 1949 at Palazzo Braschi, and a move to Palazzo delle Esposizioni in 1963. In 1989, the municipality designated the former Peroni brewery in the Salario-Nomentano quarter as the gallery's new home. After partial reopening in 1995 at the ex-convent of the Carmelites, restructuring of the brewery began in March 1996, with six rooms opening in September 1999. The museum was officially inaugurated as MACRO on 11 October 2002 under the direction of Danilo Eccher. From 2004 to 2010, French architect Odile Decq designed a major extension, with a pre-inauguration on 28 May 2010 and full public opening in autumn 2010. Since 2018, management has been entrusted to the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, an instrumental body of Roma Capitale. Directors have included Danilo Eccher (2001-2008), Luca Massimo Barbero (2008-2011), Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (2011-2013), Federica Pirani (2014-2016), and Luca Lo Pinto (2020-2024).

MACRO's collection encompasses approximately 1,200 works according to German sources, though Italian sources cite around 600 pieces, spanning from 1960 to the present. The holdings focus predominantly on significant expressions of the Italian art scene since the 1960s, with particular strengths in several key movements and groups. These include Forma 1, represented by Carla Accardi, Antonio Sanfilippo, Achille Perilli, Piero Dorazio, Leoncillo, and Ettore Colla; Arte Povera, with works by Mario Ceroli and Pino Pascali; and the Scuola di Piazza del Popolo, featuring Tano Festa, Mario Schifano, Titina Maselli, and Mimmo Rotella. The collection extends to more recent generations through artists such as Giovanni Albanese, Andrea Aquilanti, Gianni Asdrubali, Domenico Bianchi, Bruno Ceccobelli, Sarah Ciracì, Enzo Cucchi, Fabrice de Nola, Gianni Dessì, Daniele Galliano, Federico Guida, Felice Levini, Fabio Mauri, Luigi Ontani, Cristiano Pintaldi, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Gioacchino Pontrelli, Sissi, and Marco Tirelli. The programming, while primarily centered on Italian artists, regularly incorporates emerging international figures.

The collection's signature works derive from its core holdings in postwar Italian art. The Forma 1 group is represented by Carla Accardi, Antonio Sanfilippo, Achille Perilli, Piero Dorazio, Leoncillo, and Ettore Colla, constituting a foundational nucleus of abstract art in Italy. The Arte Povera presence includes Mario Ceroli and Pino Pascali, whose work exemplifies the movement's material experimentation. The Scuola di Piazza del Popolo grouping features Tano Festa, Mario Schifano, Titina Maselli, and Mimmo Rotella, capturing the pop-art inflected sensibility of 1960s Rome. Beyond these historical concentrations, the museum holds works by Enzo Cucchi, Fabio Mauri, and Luigi Ontani, as well as more recent acquisitions from artists such as Giovanni Albanese, Andrea Aquilanti, Gianni Asdrubali, Domenico Bianchi, Bruno Ceccobelli, Sarah Ciracì, Fabrice de Nola, Gianni Dessì, Daniele Galliano, Federico Guida, Felice Levini, Cristiano Pintaldi, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Gioacchino Pontrelli, Sissi, and Marco Tirelli.

The principal MACRO building occupies a restored former Peroni brewery on Via Nizza, at the corner with Via Cagliari, in the Salario-Nomentano district near Porta Pia. The French architect Odile Decq designed a major extension that transformed the industrial complex, adding a new wing with an entrance at the corner of Via Nizza and Via Cagliari. This expansion, constructed from July 2004 to June 2010 at a cost of 22 million euros, increased exhibition space to 4,350 square meters and total area to 13,940 square meters, incorporating a library, restaurant, large terrace, underground parking, and a 200-seat auditorium. Decq also integrated two studios within the new wing, awarded annually by an expert commission to selected artists. The Testaccio annex, known since 2003 as MACRO Testaccio (formerly MACRO Future), repurposes two refurbished pavilions of approximately 1,000 square each within a 19th-century former municipal slaughterhouse, the Mattatoio, covering roughly 5,000 square meters. The exhibition pavilion La Pelanda at Piazza Orazio Giustiniani was added in 2007.

The main MACRO entrance is located on Via Nizza at the corner with Via Cagliari, in the Salario-Nomentano quarter near Porta Pia. The Testaccio location is found at Piazza Orazio Giustiniani in the Testaccio district. The museum is municipally owned and operated, having been part of the Musei in Comune system of the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali until 2017, when reorganization transferred management to the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo under Roma Capitale's Assessorato alla Crescita Culturale. The institution continues to serve as a principal exhibition venue for contemporary art in Rome, having hosted the main exhibitions of the FotoGrafia. Festival internazionale di Roma from 2010, including its thematic group shows, Commissione Roma, and Photobook Market. The Testaccio site additionally accommodates the Accademia di Belle Arti and the Faculty of Architecture of Roma Tre University, integrating the museum within a broader cultural and educational ecosystem.