From 11 April to 30 August 2026, the Poly MGM Museum in Macao hosted a new section of the exhibition Silk Roads Beyond Borders, presenting for the first time in Asia masterpieces of Venetian art from the Fondazione Paolo e Carolina Zani in Brescia. An exhibition within an exhibition, organised and curated by Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS for the Poly MGM Museum and under the patronage of the Consulate General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macao.

The new section, on display for over four months, set out to consolidate Macao’s role as a platform for cultural exchange between Italy and China and between East and West. Lent for the first time on this occasion, The Molo from the Bacino di San Marco (1733-34) by Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, one of the Venetian artist’s fundamental masterpieces, depicts the seaward entrance to Piazza San Marco, for centuries the point of arrival and departure for embassies and trade from all over the world. The work brought to Asia the image that symbolised Venetian power, always celebrated and admired for its crystalline light.

Also on display until 30 August was the View of Ca’ Foscari and Palazzo Balbi (1738-40) by the great Venetian artist Michele Marieschi, a contemporary of Canaletto, which offers an example of how Venetian architecture was idealised and disseminated throughout Europe and the world.

The works also symbolically represented the exchanges between Italy, Venice and China over the centuries: from the ancient world to the age of medieval trade, with the exceptional figure of Marco Polo, then through Matteo Ricci, and on to the twentieth century, with Chinese reinterpretations of Venetian visual culture.

The opening was attended by the Consul General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macao, Carmelo Ficarra; the director of the Museum of the Fondazione Paolo e Carolina Zani, Massimiliano Capella; the president and vice-president of Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS, Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi and Giorgia Cestaro respectively, together with the directors of more than ten Chinese and international museums and institutions.