Caravaggio painting in Lampedusa

(ANSA) - Palermo, May 25 - The Uffizi Galleries have chosen a Caravaggio painting in remembrance of young Aylan - the three-year-old who died while escaping from the Syrian war and became a symbol for all migrant victims - for display in the first exhibition at Lampedusa's Museum of Trust and Dialogue for the Mediterranean, set to open June 3 in the presence of Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
    The painting is a Sleeping Cupid, an angel in a deep sleep, which will now become a tribute not only to the young boy on the Turkish beach, but to all of the children who have died at sea during their voyages of hope, as well as those who were born and those who were rescued and managed to survive.
    The painting is just one of dozens of works on loan from major museums across the Mediterranean that will make up the museum's first exhibition.
    On the same day as the Museum of Trust's inauguration, the doors will also open to the Archaelogical Museum of the Pelagie Islands, which was made possible through efforts by the Region of Sicily and the Superintendency for Archaeological and Cultural Heritage of the Province of Agrigento led by Caterina Greco.
    In addition to Mattarella, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini will also attend the inauguration, along with Mayor of Lampedusa and Linosa Giusi Nicolini and directors of the museums participating in the initiative.
    The museum is the result of a project by First Social Life with the City of Lampedusa and Linosa and the October 3 Committee, under the direction of Giacinto Palladino and Alessandro de Lisi with Valerio Cataldi; in cooperation with MiBACT, the Region of Sicily, the Superintendency of Agrigento, the Tunisian Culture Ministry, the Tunisian National Institute for Heritage and the Italian Cultural Institute of Tunisia.