The Olympic Games. A Three-Thousand-Year History
English translation of the exhibition catalogue published by Johan & Levi
Milan, Fondazione Luigi Rovati, 26 November 2025 – 22 March 2026
On the occasion of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Fondazione Luigi Rovati presents a major exhibition devoted to the history, protagonists, and values of athletic competitions from antiquity to the present day. The exhibition, curated by Anne-Cécile Jaccard, Patricia Reymond, Giulio Paolucci, and Lionel Pernet, explores how the Olympic ideal has endured through the centuries while remaining faithful to its founding values. From Greece, where the games celebrated peace and unity among city-states, to the educational vision of Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics, the principles of peace, inclusion, excellence, and respect emerge that still today animate the Olympic spirit.
Organized into five thematic sections, the exhibition creates an unusual dialogue between ancient artifacts and objects from the modern Olympic Games, revealing the connections that link sport, art, and spirituality.
Among the most significant loans are Greek, Etruscan, and Roman artefacts from the Fondazione Luigi Rovati, the Musée cantonal d’archéologie et d’histoire in Lausanne, the Vatican Museums, the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, and other major Italian institutions.
For the first time in Italy, the Tomb of the Olympics (530–520 BC) is presented to the public outside the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia, offering an exceptional visual testimony to Etruscan athletic and equestrian games. Discovered in 1958, on the eve of the 1960 Rome Olympics, the tomb takes its name from the sporting scenes that decorate its walls and offers a unique opportunity to closely admire its celebrated wall paintings.