MAXXI

MAXXI is Italy's national museum of 21st-century art and architecture, located in the Flaminio district of northern Rome. It opened in 2010 after a roughly ten-year construction phase and is Zaha Hadid's first major building in Italy. The structure is defined by intersecting, curving concrete ribbons that turn into ramp-like galleries inside - the building itself functions as a moving exhibit and won the 2010 Stirling Prize. The collection rests on two pillars: MAXXI Arte with works by contemporary Italian and international artists from Alighiero Boetti to William Kentridge, and MAXXI Architettura housing the archives of Carlo Scarpa, Pier Luigi Nervi and Aldo Rossi. A visit typically combines Hadid's architecture with one of the temporary exhibitions, then lingers in the forecourt or the espresso bar.