Sometimes you get used to beauty, other times you don't know where to look for it. Caravaggio's masterpieces, however, are not that difficult to admire if you know which way to look. Here is the guide to the works of Michelangelo Merisi scattered throughout the peninsula.
Despite the short duration of his life - Caravaggio died at the age of only 39 - the painter of Lombard origins has to his credit a considerable number of works exhibited in the main museums of the world such as the Louvre in Paris, the Prado in Madrid, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
In Italy, to admire his canvases, one must never go too far away.
If you are in Rome, for example, you are spoiled for choice. The largest collection of the works of Cavaraggio is located right in the capital and many of these are found in some of the oldest churches in the city, such as that of Sant'Agostino where the Madonna di Loreto (or Madonna dei Pellegrini) is kept, that of San Luigi dei Francesi near Piazza Navona where the triptych with the stories of San Matteo, still the church of Santa Maria del Popolo which houses the Conversion of San Paolo and the Crucifixion of San Pietro.
But still, crossing Rome, it is possible to admire works by Caravaggio in some of the symbolic places of art in the capital: The Penitent Magdalene, Rest on the Flight into Egypt and St. John the Baptist can be found at the Doria Pamphilj Gallery, the Young Man with Fruit Basket, Sick Bacchus, Madonna dei Palafrenieri, St. Jerome, St. John the Baptist and David with the Head of Goliath they are in the Borghese Gallery, the Deposition of Christ is kept in the Vatican Museums; Judith and Holofernes are in the National Gallery at Palazzo Barberini, while John the Baptist (Young Man with Lamb) and the Good Luck are kept in the Capitoline Museums. Another representation of St. John the Baptist is kept in Palazzo Corsini.
Moving to Florence, Caravaggio is on permanent display both in the Uffizi Gallery with his famous Bacchus, the Shield with the Head of Medusa and The Sacrifice of Isaac, but also in Palazzo Pitti it is possible to find him admiring Sleeping Cupid.
Still a little further north going up towards Genoa, the famous Ecce Homo is exhibited in the gallery of Palazzo Bianco (Musei di Strada Nuova).
Among the works by Caravaggio on display at Milano there is the Supper at Emmaus in the Brera Art Gallery and the Basket of Fruit in the Ambrosian Art Gallery which can be accessed without having to pay a ticket.
A Napoli, however, there are two works by Caravaggio: the Flagellation exhibited at the National Gallery of Capodimonte and the Seven Works of Mercy at the Pio Monte della Misericordia.
In Sicilia the works of Michelangelo Merisi can be found in the Regional Museum of Messina where the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Adoration of the Shepherds can be admired, while in Syracuse, in Palazzo Bellomo, the Burial of Saint Lucia is kept.
