Lorenzo and Jovanotti, two entities of the same soul of the artist Cherubini, whose boundary is untraceable; they blend into each other, drawing energy from one another, feeding off each other. How many songs, in Jovanotti’s long career, have been born from a journey of Lorenzo, and how many journeys have been the result of the musician’s desire for knowledge, exchange, and inspiration? Lorenzo sets off, lives among the people he meets, listens to their voices, captures their sounds and breaths, and transforms them into lyrics, music, and emotion.
He has been entrusted with the task of inaugurating the exhibition journey right from the grand staircase at the entrance, which, for the occasion, is transformed. No longer merely a passage leading scholars to rooms where order and silence are paramount, the staircase is reimagined. Lorenzo Cherubini upends and redefines this balance, inviting visitors to step inside, leave behind their expectations of this traditionally structured space, and fully lose themselves in the experience.
What is travel if not an immersive and emotional experience, even before being an anthropological or strictly touristic endeavor? It is an invitation to get lost, to turn off the GPS, and to break away from the flood of images shared on social media by travelers more interested in photographing and posting their destinations than in truly discovering them.
Crossing the threshold of the Library, visitors ascend the staircase as if riding a bicycle on a mountain trail—unable to see the summit, with the destination fading into the background, allowing them to savor the journey. Along the way, they encounter a previously unseen side of Lorenzo Jovanotti—an eclectic artist, curious about the world, who, for the first time, shares all his passions.
At the entrance, travel takes center stage, symbolized by his Hippogriff Adventure bicycle, a custom-built fusion of different elements—just like the mythical creature. Music is represented by a vibrantly colored guitar, emblazoned with Viva la libertà as both an invitation and a reminder, alongside a massive disco mirror ball transformed into a globe, designed and crafted with his longtime creative partner Sergio Pappalettera. Books—of which he reads, recommends, and shares countless volumes—will be on display in a specially curated selection, ready to be admired, photographed, and noted down. A journey in every sense—of movement, of artistic expression, and of boundless exploration.
Lorenzo artist: the Giornale di bordo
His travel stories fill the walls, offering one of the most surprising testimonies of his eclectic and curious nature. Page after page, a true Giornale di bordo (Logbook) unfolds—a personal, unconventional record where Lorenzo disregards lines, spaces, and formats to chart not just the routes he has traveled, but also his passions, his lifelong inspirational figures, and his reflections.
Created in August 2024 specifically for this exhibition, this Logbook narrates Lorenzo’s experience in this new journey, En route, undertaken alongside the Vatican Library. Among the sketches and writings, an essential presence emerges—his “spirit guide,” Alexander von Humboldt. The scientist-explorer saw travel as an opportunity to conduct research of all kinds, and he is honored here with illustrations from one of his most famous works, Plantes équinoxiales recueillies au Mexique, preserved in the Chigi Printed Collection (Stamp. Chig. S.377) of the Vatican Library.
The Drawings
The bold black marker strokes of the Logbook are just one facet of Lorenzo’s artistic expression. His father once imagined him as a painter, like Michelangelo, and while he may have taken a different path, for this exhibition he has returned to the brush. Using tempera paints and markers, he has created a series of large-scale drawings on geographical maps—a deeply personal reimagining of geography that transforms into Jova-graphy. Alongside these, he has also produced botanical illustrations inspired by Von Humboldt, blending scientific observation with artistic vision.
Megamix
Throughout the exhibition, visitors are immersed in a unique sound installation, created in collaboration with DJ, producer, and sound engineer Fresco (to download and listen to the full track, click here). Lorenzo describes it as follows:
“I envisioned a sonic journey, as if this room were a spaceship, a bicycle, or the back of a truck moving through sounds I have encountered over the years—sounds I have invented, composed, listened to, dreamed of, explored. It’s music, fragments of songs, sonic memories, pieces of stories—all in motion and never the same.”
The Torans: open doors to Discovery
And since every journey, no matter how far, eventually leads home, Lorenzo concludes his space with three symbolic open doors—toran, traditional Indian gateways that mark the entrance to temples and homes. Created by Maria Grazia Chiuri, Karishma Swali, and the artisans of the Chanakya School of Craft, these three toran serve as invitations:
- The largest presents an intuitive, artistic interpretation of the places Lorenzo has visited—a geography of emotions.
- The other two are inspired by historical musical manuscripts preserved in the Vatican Library.
Through these open doors, the exhibition invites visitors to embark on their own journey—both outward into the world and inward toward self-discovery.
