Silent and reverent tribute of the Order of Malta and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art to the Pope who chose the name of Leo XIV for himself.
In the heart of the Aventine, a majestic bronze lion of the artist Davide Rivalta was placed in the gardens of the master’s villa of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, in a silent dialogue between art, nature and spirituality. The lion, in an upright position, is visible through the famous “hole of the lock” of Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, aligned with
Dome of San Pietro, an iconic vision of Rome which, from Saturday 28 June 2025, is enriched with a new element of meaning.
Thanks to the collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rome and the availability of her director, Renata Cristina Mazzantini, the order was able to borrow one of the famous bronze “lions” of Rivalta, two of which are already exhibited under the portico of the courtyard of the Honor of the Quirinale.
By approaching the eye to the “lock hole” of the large portal decorated by Giovan Battista Piranesi in 1765, you can now admire not only the profile of
Cupola, but also – at his feet – the vigilant figure of a lion: a solemn and discreet presence that wants to be a silent and reverent tribute to his holiness the Pope “here sibi nomen esuit leonem decationum quartum“.”
“The lion speaks without roaring,” said Fra ‘John T. Dunlap, Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta. “And in its noble immobility it reminds us of the silent strength that protects, serves and contemplates: a force that is at the heart of our mission.”
The exhibition project was wanted by the Grand Master and created by the Embassy of the Sovereign Order at the Holy See. Davide Rivalta (Bologna, 1974) is an Italian sculptor Known for its monumental animal representations, made mainly in bronze, aluminum and fiberglass. His works depict lions, gorillas, wolves, buffaloes and other animals in solemn and silent attitudes, suspended between realism and symbolic presence. His creatures invade public and institutional spaces – courtyards, squares, gardens – without rhetoric, but with expressive intensity and profound elegance.
Davide Rivalta lives in Bologna, where he was born in 1974. The work techniques that prefers sculpture, drawing and painting. His works are permanently in Ravenna (Palazzo di Giustizia, Port Authority, Sant’Apollinare in class), Neuchâtel (Biblothèque Publique et Universitaire, Collégiale, Place Pork), Rome (National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palazzo del Quirinale and Palazzo Borromeo), Florence, (Teatro del Musica Musicale Fiorentino) and Mougins (Chapelle Notre-Dame de Vie). He has exhibited in artistic and museum centers and institutions as among others: Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz 2006; National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023; Forta di Belvedere, Florence, 2019
Carlo Franza