Italy Buys Rare Caravaggio Portrait for €30m

The Italian government has acquired a rare Caravaggio portrait for €30 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for artwork by the state. The painting, a 1598 depiction of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini—later Pope Urban VIII—was previously held in a private Florentine collection and debuted publicly in Rome in 2024. It will join the permanent collection at Palazzo Barberini, the historic home of the Barberini family. The purchase is part of a broader cultural strategy to keep key masterpieces out of private hands.

Source: BBC – Entertainment & Arts