(ANSA) - Rimini, November 26 - A remarkable collection of masterpieces by some of Europe's greatest artists has gone on show in this Italian coastal resort. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has loaned several key works from its European collection as part of a one-off initiative while reorganizing its layout.

In total, 65 works have made the trip back to Europe, where they will spend the duration of their stay in Rimini's Castel Sisimondo before returning to restyled quarters in Boston. ''This exhibition is a veritable parade of memorable masterpieces,'' said the event's curator Marco Goldin. ''I'm absolutely delighted with the quality of the work on show,'' he added, recalling it had taken over three years and cost 2.3 million euros to organize the event.

The exhibition pieces are intended to draw out developments and trends in painting over five centuries, from the 1500s through to the 1900s, with a particular focus on landscapes and portraits.

It opens with a section looking at religious sentiment in art, with paintings by Paolo Veronese, El Greco, Domenico Fetti and Jacopo Bassano. The tone in the next section is more down-to-earth, with everyday portraits by Diego Velazquez, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Anthony van Dyck and Giovanni Battista Moroni. From a later era are paintings by Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Pablo Picasso. Goldin explained that an important feature of the exhibition was the placement of the works, designed to draw out similarities, differences and development in styles. Some works have also been arranged to show changes in the landscape. For example, Venice is depicted in adjacent paintings by Canaletto in the early 1700s and then Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot in the mid-19th century. The biggest draw, though, is expected to be the names, which read like a roll-call of the greatest Western art celebrities from the last few centuries. There are seven paintings by Claude Monet, including a Rouen Cathedral and Fisherman's House, drawn from the Boston museum's outstanding collection of his work, the second largest in the world. Other masterpieces expected to pull the crowds are Paul Cezanne's The Pond, Rocky Crags at L'Estaque by Renoir, Landscape With Two Breton Women by Paul Gauguin and House At Auvers by Vincent Van Gogh. The exhibition runs at the Castel Sisimondo until March 14 next year.

photo: one of Monet's famous depictions of Rouen Cathedral