Renato Miracco
Renato Miracco is a scholar, art critic, and curator from Naples, Italy. He previously served as the Cultural Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Washington, and he is a former member of the Board of Guarantors for the Italian Academy at Columbia University. Miracco has curated numerous important exhibitions on Italian art worldwide and has published widely. From 2019 to 2024 he is serving as Guest Curator at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the first American Museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Currently, Miracco serves on the Board of in Washington DC. Miracco was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for Cultural Achievements in 2018. Now an American citizen, Miracco continues his prolific work in curation, art criticism, and cultural diplomacy endeavors.
Career highlights
During his tenure as the Cultural Attaché of the Italian Embassy from 2009 to 2017, Miracco made significant contributions to cultural exchange and diplomacy through the arts, bridging Italy and the United States. In 2013, he organized a series of more than 300 events to celebrate and explore the impact of Italian culture in the United States. As Attaché, Miracco supervised all of the Italian Embassy's exhibitions, organized the Italy@150 program in partnership with over 80 museums across the United States, and helped organize a Memorandum of Understanding on Archaeology between the governments of Italy and the United States.Miracco's influential prior positions include serving as Director of Chiara Fama for Cultural Affairs for the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, acting as an Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, and organizing an exhibition at the Quirinale Palace in Rome for the President of Italy.
Miracco has lectured at Pratt Institute and other universities and institutions across the globe and has curated exhibitions at prestigious museums and collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Phillips Collection, the National Gallery of Art, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Estorick Collection, and the Tate Modern.
Miracco's notable curated exhibitions include "An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Guiseppe de Nittis" at the Phillips Collection, which was declared among the 10 best exhibitions in 2023 by the Washington Post. Since 2018, he has been the Curator of the Pinacoteca De Nittis in Barletta, Italy. Additionally, Miracco is the Curator and Editor of the Catalogue SOLMI Ship of Fools, Venice Biennale 2024, Palazzo Dona dalle Rose from April 18 to July 2024.
Miracco is a prolific author and critic known for publishing numerous exhibition catalogues and art books that highlight Italian and American art, Impressionism, and cultural heritage. His recent notable publication,, in both Italian and English, revisits De Nittis's connections with French artists like Manet, Degas, and Caillebotte, emphasizing his unique contributions to Impressionism and his innovative visual systems that closely intertwine images and narrative.