Art spanning 5,000 years of European history is appearing here for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.
Inaugurating the show Friday at Rome's Palazzo Quirinale, his official residence, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano cited great French historian Fernand Braudel as saying "every form of art in Europe goes beyond the threshold of its homeland".
He thanked the 27 EU heads of state for loaning "masterpieces emblematic of their history".
The result is a remarkable selection of works ranging from the Stone Age to the 20th century, starring masters such as Turner, Titian, Velasquez and van Dyck.
The earliest work on display is a Maltese Neolithic statue of a 'Fat Lady', symbolizing motherhood and fertility. It dates back to 3300-2500 BC.
Another statue bears witness to the elegance, skill and beauty of the classical world.
This work, loaned by the Athens Acropolis Museum, portrays Kore, the mythological daughter of Zeus and Demeter.
The show also features an extraordinary vase decorated with the story of the Rape of Europa painted by Asteas, a fourth-century BC artist who lived in the ancient Greek colony of Paestum in southern Italy.
The priceless piece, which was tracked down by Italian art detectives a year ago, represents the whole Union, rather than any single state.
Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus have chosen Byzantine works of art, while Italy and Germany went for paintings by Renaissance greats Titian and Albrecht Dürer respectively.
Dürer's Portrait of Jakob Muffel (1526) and Titian's Portrait of a Gentleman (1520) are celebrated examples of the art of capturing the essence of a personality.
Diego Velasquez's View of the Garden of Villa Medici, Rome (1629-30) was the choice of the Spanish royal family.
Belgium also opted for a painting by a 17th-century great, Anton van Dyck.
Other highlights include British painter William Turner's The Arrival of Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth (1844-5), French sculptor Auguste Rodin's famous The Thinker (1881) and a grid composition by Dutch modernist Piet Mondrian.
The most recent work on display is by Danish artist Per Kirkeby - Prophecy On Venice (1976).
"These works show us how Europe has been, and is, singular and plural at the same time, capable of carving out a common cultural space and, as a result, a common project of economic, legal and political integration," said Napolitano.
The exhibition, entitled Capolavori dell'Arte Europea (Masterpieces of European Art), runs from March 24 to May 20.
It is free every day of the week except Sunday, when tickets cost five euros and come with a tour of Palazzo Quirinale.
