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From September 27 to October 25, the picturesque Church of Sant’Erasmo in the Old Town is hosting an extraordinary early painting by the 17th-century master.
PORTO ERCOLE – An event of exceptional artistic and scientific value is set to enliven theArgentario. From September 27 to October 25, the Church of Sant’Erasmo, nestled in the heart of Porto Ercole’s historic center, will open its doors to an exhibition of the masterpiece by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, titled “Boy Bitten by a Green Lizard”. Pierluigi Carofano, an art historian and expert on Caravaggio’s paintings, is serving as the event’s curatorial director. The initiative carries profound symbolic significance, bringing Caravaggio’s work back to the very place inextricably linked to the final moments of the artist’s life—he passed away in Porto Ercole in 1610.
The painting on display, an oil on canvas measuring 65.5 by 50 centimeters from a private collection in Rome, is a work of extraordinary historical and artistic value. Mentioned in 17th-century sources by Giulio Mancini and Giovanni Baglione, the work was conceived during the early years of the painter’s stay in Rome, around 1595. Examined directly by Roberto Longhi in 1958—who offered to purchase it and recognized the master’s hand—the version on display exhibits technical and stylistic characteristics perfectly in line with Caravaggio’s early works, such as the brown ground, the use of a sparing preparatory layer, and subtle retouching visible on the fingers of the left hand. Compared to the other known versions preserved in London and Florence, the Roman version stands out for its unique details, including the visible tears of sorrow on the lower eyelid of the boy’s right eye, the brown color of the green lizard, and the specific chromatic nuances of the rose—elements that have led scholars such as Sergio Rossi and Emilio Negro to consider it the probable autograph prototype of the entire composition.
From an iconological perspective, *The Boy Bitten by a Green Lizard* is interpreted by art historians as a complex allegory of the relationship between youth and death, pleasure and pain. The young protagonist—whose face may conceala self-portrait of Caravaggio himself—wears a rose in his curly hair, a symbol of seduction but also of transience and vanitas. The old-fashioned clothing, the still life featuring the glass carafe, the cherries, and the rose thorns evoke passion and the torments of love. The sudden bite of the green lizard emerging from the fruit dramatically turns pleasure into suffering, transforming the scene into a powerful moralizing meditation on the disappointments and wounds of love.
The event is organizedby the MetaMorfosi Association in collaboration with the Guglielmo Giordano Foundation, under the patronage of the Municipality of Monte Argentario . The exhibition is made possible thanks to the essential support of Marina di Cala Galera and Listone Giordano. Special thanks for their support and collaboration go to the Diocese of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello, Bishop Bernardino Giordano, and Father Adorno Della Monaca, pastor of the Parish of Sant’Erasmo and San Paolo della Croce.
The exhibition offers visitors an intimate and evocative experience, creating a dialogue between the sacred architecture of the historic village and the revolutionary power of Caravaggio’s paintings. The mayor and the municipal administration invite all citizens and art lovers not to miss this unique opportunity to admire up close a masterpiece from a private collection that is rarely accessible to the public.
The exhibition will be free and open to the public every day from September 27 to October 25. For more information, press credentials, and organizational contacts, please contact the City’s press office.
