GETTY MUSEUM PARTNERS WITH SICILY

The J. Paul Getty Museum said yesterday that it is expanding its partnerships with various regions of Italy by embarking on a long-term cultural collaboration with Sicily.

The joint project will involve object conservation, earthquake protection of collections, exhibitions, and more, reports the Los Angeles Times. The Getty said it will be working with the Sicilian Ministry of Culture and Sicilian Identity.

Currently, the Getty has partnerships with the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.

The collaborations are the result of a 2007 agreement between the Getty and the Italian Ministry of Culture. As part of that accord, the Getty agreed to transfer forty objects to Italy in order to help bring to a close the protracted legal battle over disputed works of art.

Italy and the Getty also agreed at the time to a “broad cultural collaboration” that would include loans of significant artworks, joint exhibitions, and other endeavors.

Among the projects slated for the Sicily project is a new exhibition to be undertaken by the Getty that will explore Sicily during the classical and Hellenistic periods—or roughly between the fifth and third centuries BCE.

The Getty said the exhibition, which is provisionally titled “Between Greece and Rome: Sicily in the Classical and Hellenistic Period,” will open at the Getty Villa in Malibu in 2013 and will borrow from a number of Sicilian museums and other international institutions.