Scenes of 'Joseph the Jew' on display in Rome, Milan, Florence

Rome, November 25 - Twenty famous Medici tapestries featuring the stories of Joseph the Jew are to be brought together in an itinerant exhibition to coincide with Milan Expo 2015.

The tapestries, commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio in 1545, are currently divided between their original home in the Tuscan capital and the Quirinal Palace in Rome and have recently been restored. The works by Italian Mannerist painters Pontormo and Bronzino will go on display in the capital in January before travelling to Milan, where they will be on show from April through September to coincide with the World's Fair.

The exhibition will then end up in Florence at run there until January 2016.

"It is an extraordinary opportunity that puts into effect the supporting ideas of Expo, namely the power of beauty and know-how," said Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina of the exhibition that reunites the 20 tapestries after nearly 150 years. Expo 2015 will run in Milan from May through October 2015 on the theme 'Feeding the planet, energy for life'.