ROME'S MOST SURPRISING MUSEUM

The MAAM (Museo dell'Altro e dell'Altrove – Museum of the Other and Elsewhere) is not only Rome's most unusual museum - it is unique. A former squatter's refuge in a former salami factory, it is now the third largest contemporary art museum in Rome, with the unique tag, according to founder Giorgio de Finis, that it is the only museum in the world that people actually live in. The inhabitants include immigrants, refugees and Italians down-on-their luck, forming a closely forged community over the past thirteen years.

The MAAM, in fact, is part of the self-styled city of Metropoliz created in a Roman suburb by 60 homeless families, who moved into the abandoned 20,000 sqm premises in 2009. The site also attracted artists, looking for studio and exhibition space. To date, Metropoliz has attracted over 400 artists from all over the world who have filled the ex-warehouse premises with murals, sculptures, installations and other art works. One of the most arresting areas is the ex-slaughter house, now re-christened the “Porcine Chapel”, where the walls are covered symbolically in paintings of pigs hanging from hooks, which, however, free themselves and fly off at the end of the cycle.

The site has been threatened with closure many times, but de Finis has met threats of demolition by covering all the walls with art works, some of which by well-known artists who command high market prices. No authority, he says, would dare destroy a mural worth thousands! The number of celebrated artists who have exhibited in the MAAM include Michelangelo Pistoletto, who showed his “Venere Callipigia” (Venus of the Rags) sculpture (normally part of the Castle of Rivoli, Turin) collection) at Metropoliz for several months as part of a charity campaign.

MAAM is open to the public by prior booking and visitors can join in the communal lunch on Saturdays.

Info: Facebook: MAAM Museo dell'Altro e dell'Altrove di Metropoliz