Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the exhibition Rome: Empire, Power, People at Melbourne Museum on Saturday, 9 May 2026.
Welcomed by Ambassador Lener and Consul General Mauri, together with the leadership of the organising institution, Museums Victoria, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to admire the extraordinary selection of artefacts from the collections of the Museo Nazionale Romano and the Museo Archeologico di Firenze.
The exhibition, organised with the contribution of Contemporanea Progetti and with the support of the Italian institutions in Melbourne, represents an unprecedented event within the Australian cultural landscape: for the first time, more than 160 original artefacts and archaeological masterpieces have left Italy to tell the Australian public the extraordinary story of the Roman Empire.
The Prime Minister’s visit, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, Speaker of the House Milton Dick, and Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan, confirmed the extraordinary institutional significance attributed to the exhibition in Australia and represented a strong acknowledgment of the role of Italy and its culture, also conveyed through the significant contribution of the Italian community in Australia.
