Francesca Cappelletti
Director of the Galleria Borghese in Rome
Francesca Cappelletti has been the Director of the Galleria Borghese since November 2020. She studied Art History in Rome (La Sapienza), London (Warburg Institute), and Paris (Collège de France). She subsequently taught at several Italian universities, most recently as Full Professor at the University of Ferrara.
Her research focuses on Italian art collecting from the Renaissance to the 19th century, with particular attention to Caravaggio, foreign painters in Italy, and 17th-century landscape painting. Her work on the Mattei collection contributed to the rediscovery of Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ.
Since 2009, she has collaborated with the Getty Research Institute on major projects concerning Italian collecting. She has curated and contributed to numerous international exhibitions and organised scholarly panels on Baroque palace decoration. Her recent exhibitions at the Galleria Borghese include A Timeless Wonder. Painting on Stone in Rome between the Cinquecento and Seicento (with P. Cavazzini) and The Touch of Pygmalion. Rubens and Sculpture in Rome (with L. Simonato). Her latest book is Le belle. Ritratti femminili nelle stanze del potere (Mondadori, 2024).