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Abstract:  “A COMMENDABLE COMPETITION”. THE EXHIBITING SYSTEM IN ROME AT THE TIME OF POPE PIUS VI At the time of Pius IV, Europe still considered Rome as “the capital of arts” though within the eternal city there was no annual artistic exposition as important and imposing as those that wew present in Paris (Salons), London, and Berlin. However, there still was the habit of presenting to the roman public, before their departure, those art works destined to be exported and, contemporarily, the roman public was considered particularly competent in its artistic judgement. This essay identifies and analyzes the places, the modalities, as well as the strategies of such art exhibitions in Rome. They took place in Churches (though limited to paintings portraying religious themes), Palaces (in particular, embassies) and mostly, in the studios and shops of the artists themselves. In analyzing these events, a cosmopolitan world that involved artists, consigners, and purchasers coming from all over Europe, as well as America, surfaces. Foreign and roman newspapers had a great importance in that they brought about the artistic debate and the end of the Eighteenth century, marking the beginning of modern art criticism. A closer analysis of certain artworks exhibited in Rome between 1777 and 1778 (Mengs, Batoni, Vien) outlines the importance of art shows as a means of inquiry for any historian interested in the complex dynamics of the roman artistic and cultural world.