Associated Press
OME — Eight paintings from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence are going on display in a villa seized from a mobster in a southern Italian town that's a stronghold of organized crime.
The exhibit, entitled "Light conquers shadow," runs June 21-Oct. 21 in Casal di Principe, which has long been a power base for the Casalesi crime clan of the Camorra syndicate in the Naples area.
The exhibit's organizers said Friday that the venue of a villa where a crime boss had lived helps transmit the message that "legality prevails over illegality, culture over ignorance."
The Uffizi paintings include works reflecting the legacy of Caravaggio, who spent some of his last years in Naples and is renowned for his dramatic chiaroscuro technique — partially illuminating figures against a dark background.
