On the occasion of the exhibition Castel Sant’Angelo 1911–1925. The Dawn of a Museum (September 23, 2025 – February 15, 2026), this volume traces the extraordinary transformation of the famous Roman monument from a military fortress to a cultural institution. The story begins with the grand Retrospective Exhibitions of 1911, organized for the Universal Exposition and the fiftieth anniversary of Italian Unification, and culminates in 1925 with the establishment of the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo.

Featuring works from major Italian museums and the castle’s rich collections — including prestigious loans and previously unseen masterpieces — the book recounts the birth of a new museographic vision, attentive to environmental reconstruction and capable of engaging with the monument’s millennia-old architecture. The testimonies of masters such as Piranesi, Pinelli, and Ettore Roesler Franz convey the depth of a perspective that skillfully intertwined history, memory, and the visual identity of the city.

Celebrating the centenary of the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo, this publication does more than evoke the past: it reaffirms the value of research, preservation, and promotion as tools to project the museum into the future, making it increasingly open, accessible, and connected to contemporary audiences.