MACTE Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Termoli is the first space dedicated to contemporary art in Molise and it opened on 28 April 2019 with the exhibition Art is easy, curated by Laura Cherubini and Arianna Rosica.

The curators have chosen Giuseppe Chiari’s work Art is easy as the beginning of the exhibition and key concept of the relation between contemporary art and its viewers. About sixty works from over 400 works of the Collection of the Premio Termoli have been selected by Laura Cherubini and Arianna Rosica for the seven exhibitions rooms of MACTE, while in the central space of the museum curators pay tribute to Mario Ceroli and Gino Marotta, two great artists who have participated to the Premio Termoli with works coming from Rome and Bologna. The Collection of the Premio Termoli was initiated in 1955 and continues until today, composed of mainly paintings on canvas, but also sculptures made using different techniques and materials. The collection, together with the multiple editions of the national art exhibition of the Premio Termoli, represents a cultural asset of great importance since it has witnesses the artistic research that has inspired the Italian cultural scene from 1955 (year of its first edition) until today. Some of the artists in the exhibition are: Carla Accardi, Franco Angeli, Antonio Calderara, Dadamaino, Tano Festa, Sergio Lombardo, Eliseo Mattiacci, Gastone Novelli, Achille Pace, Achille Perilli, Antonio Sanfilippo, Mario Schifano, Giulio Turcato, Giuseppe Uncini and Nanda Vigo.

Thus, the MACTE Museum was founded with the ambition of becoming the host of one of the treasures of Termoli and with the express purpose of redeveloping the old local market with a conversion of its central square and seven boxes used as stalls selling fruits and vegetables in as many exhibition halls and a circular space suitable for hosting cultural events.

After a long period in which the works of the Premio Termoli were exhibited for short periods and then relegated in spaces inadequate for their conservation, finally with the opening of MACTE the heritage of the Premio Termoli is given back to the city and the public.

The works in the exhibition have undergone conservative restoration work thanks to Gaetano Fanelli, director of the School of Restoration of Brera Academy in Milan.