The year was 1953. Fernanda Wittgens, the director of the Pinacoteca of Brera, decided to organise an exhibition of Pablo Picasso at Palazzo Reale, Milan. The idea was to represent the cultural rebirth of the city ten years on from the first bombing raids of the Second World War. It was Attilio Rossi, an Italian artists and graphic designer, who convinced the Catalan artist to show Guernica and other examples of his social-protest work in the Sala delle Cariatidi at Palazzo Reale. Seventy years on, the same intent is expressed through a similar work by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

A contemporary artist who has always been committed to calling for peace, as well as for environmental and social sustainability, Pistoletto - in the same setting of the Sala delle Cariatidi - will be exhibiting hundreds of high-flying doves carrying the symbol of the Third Paradise. A sign of peace in tribute to the present, during the time of the war in Ukraine and the pandemic that has claimed millions of lives the world over. Preventative Peace by Michelangelo Pistoletto, curated by Fortunato d’Amico, will be at Palazzo Reale from 23 March to 4 June 2023.