Museums in Italy

Pirelli Hangar Bicocca: a cathedral of contemporary art If you want to enjoy a day of art and culture, a visit to Pirelli Hangar Bicocca is for you. Just a stone's throw from the centre of Milan and located in an industrial building that was once the site of a factory for the manufacture of locomotives, the non-profit foundation was established in 2004 and was created by Pirelli. With its 15,000 square metres of space, it includes an area dedicated to public services and educational activities, and three first-class contemporary art exhibition spaces characterised by the visible presence of the original architectural elements from the last century: the Hangar, the Naves, and the Cube. In this decidedly fascinating place, there is a strong link between the past and the present. The industrial and original character of the building has been maintained both outside and inside, where the original rough concrete floors and high industrial ceilings of the period have been preserved. Among the artists that Pirelli Hangar Bicocca has hosted, and is hosting, are the likes of Marina Abramović, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, Joan Jonas, Mike Kelley, Matt Mullican, Philippe Parreno, Laure Prouvost, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Maurizio Cattelan and Lucio Fontana. In the area where the Naves are located, in addition to the temporary exhibitions, is the spectacular permanent work by the renowned German artist Anselm Kiefer, The Seven Heavenly Palaces. These are seven large reinforced concrete towers and, although the installation lends itself to different readings, these may symbolically refer to the spiritual initiation path of those who wish to approach God according to Jewish culture. They each weigh 90 tonnes and their heights vary between 13 and 19 metres. Another permanent installation worth mentioning is Fausto Melotti's La Sequenza. Located in the gardens of Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, it is a monumental work, 22 metres long and 7 metres high, consisting of a series of vertical iron plates positioned at three different depth levels, with alternating solids and voids. La Sequenza represents a theme very dear to Melotti: that of theatre and its modular dimensions, the idea of the theme and musical variations. Around the large entrance that gives access to the exhibition spaces there are several areas: the Kids' Room, designed for events and workshops for children and families, a Reading Room, a Bookshop and a Bistrot.

Intercultural Museum of the City of Milan A multidisciplinary center that houses a rich ethno-anthropological heritage consisting of over 7,000 works of art, objects, textiles and musical instruments from all continents. MUDEC is a place where cultures and communities meet. Inside it hosts a variety of cultural proposals, a permanent collection and rooms dedicated to great temporary exhibitions. The MUDEC is also a wonderful auditorium dedicated to performance and visual arts. In the room dedicated to the Settala Collection, a feather mosaic is on display, one of the rarest examples of Mexican featherwork art that has survived until now, created in the 17th century in Mexico, depicting Pope Alexander VII.

The museum of Michelangelo's David, wonder of the world. The Galleria dell'Accademia is one of the most visited museums in the world. It is the place where you can admire Michelangelo's David, the masterpiece that is the symbol of the Florentine Renaissance, as well as some of the most important collections of paintings and sculptures in the world Until 1784, the Galleria housed a convent and a hospital, then Pietro Leopoldo, the then Grand Duke of Tuscany, re-organized the Accadamia delle Arti del Disegno, founded in 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici, in the modern Academy of Fine Arts. The museum was enriched with works from Florentine churches and museums, but the main event in its history was the transfer of Michelangelo's Davd from Piazza della Signoria, in the August of 1873. With the passing of the years, the Accademia has been enhanced with another 6 of Michelangelo’s works: the four statues of the Prisoners, St. Matthew and the Palestrina Pietà. Other important works include the chalk model used by Giambologna to realize the Abduction of the Sabine Women and a collection of musical instruments, including those by Stradivarius, displayed in the wing of the Cherubini Conservatory.

The Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice is located in a house on the Grand Canal where the American art dealer and collector lived after World War II, displaying one of the most important collections of 20th century European and American artists in Italy. A lover of avant-garde, Guggenheim acquired works by Cubists, Futurists, Surrealist Dadaists, American Modernists and Italian Abstract artists throughout her life. And today the Guggenheim Foundation carries on Peggy's dream in her extraordinary house-museum. What to see at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum The Peggy Guggenheim Collection (1898-1979) is located on the Grand Canal in Venice between the Accademia Bridge and the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, in the only single-storey white Istrian stone building, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. Left unfinished, Guggenheim bought the building after the war when she fell madly in love with Venice. The art dealer and collector lived in this mansion overflowing with works of art until her death in 1979: when she was still alive, she liked to open her house to the public to show her works once a week for free. Donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which also runs the eponymous museums in New York, Bilbao, and Abu Dhabi, today Peggy Guggenheim's collection enriched over time can be visited in the house-museum. It includes works by Constantin Brancusi, George Braques, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst (one of Guggenheim's husbands), Vassily Kandinsky, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock, among others. The creators of abstract art include the Italians Afro, Carla Accardi, Agostino Bonalumi, Pietro Consagra, Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Santomaso, Toti Scialoja and Emilio Vedova. In addition to the permanent collection in the house-museum, various exhibitions of contemporary artists can also be visited. The Schulhof and Nasher Collections In 2012, the museum was enriched with 83 works from the collection donated by the American couple Hannelore and Rudolph Schulhof, including various 20th-century artists like Alberto Burri, Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko and Claes Oldenburg, in addition to Andy Warhol, Sol LeWitt and Anish Kapoor. A new building was purchased to accommodate the acquired works in 2016, now also home to introductory art activities for schools and families, as well as an international internship programme dedicated to young art enthusiasts. The garden instead displays sculptures from the Nasher Foundation permanent collection with pieces by Hans Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Piero Gilardi, Marino Marini, Luciano Minguzzi, Mirko, Henry Moore, Mimmo Paladino, Germaine Richier and Takis. The woman who bought a painting a day "My motto was Buy a painting a day and I followed it to the letter”. This was Peggy Guggenheim, the American heiress whose love of art was commensurate with her immense fortune inherited from her father Benjamin, a mining magnate who died in the sinking of the Titanic. Growing up in New York, she and her first husband frequented the Parisian art scene in the 1920s, befriending artists such as Brancusi and Duchamp. In 1938 she opened an art gallery in London (Guggenheim Jeune) where she showed Kandinsky's first solo exhibition in Great Britain and presented artists such as Tanguy, Cocteau and Kernn-Larsen. In those years she bought her first work, a sculpture by Hans Arp, and developed the idea of creating a museum of modern art in London, which the outbreak of war prohibited: in those difficult years, however, she managed to acquire a large number of important works. Back in New York, in 1942 Peggy opened the gallery-museum Art of this Century with the first core of her collection and exhibitions of emerging artists, such as the first solo show of Pollock, of whom she was a patron. She moved to Venice in 1947. The following year she exhibited her collection at the Biennale and in 1950 she brought Pollock to Europe for the first time, in an exhibition held in the Napoleon Wing of the Correr Museum in St Mark’s Square. As early as 1951 she began to open her house to the public, albeit occasionally, so that everyone could, like her, enjoy art. Guggenheim is buried in the garden of the Venetian house-museum, together with her dogs.

The building of the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi of Venice form the exhibition centre for one of the five largest collections of contemporary art in the world, the Pinault Collection. Those who love art and architecture should not miss a visit to both spaces, restored by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. These museums do not display a real permanent collection but set up exhibitions with ever-changing works, while artists are invited to create on commission. Punta della Dogana The Punta della Dogana complex is a triangular-shaped building completed in 1682. It stands at the mouth of the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, in the centre of St Mark's Basin, in the place where the view of Venice is most spectacular: from the Punta there is a 360° panorama of Giudecca, the island of San Giorgio and its Palladian basilica, the Riva degli Schiavoni, the Doge's Palace, St Mark's Square, the Royal Gardens and Ca' Giustinian. The building served as the Venice Customs House until the 1980s. After twenty years of neglect, the Venice City Council decided to turn it into a centre for contemporary art: the Pinault Collection won the tender and in 2009 inaugurated the space returned to the city. The exhibition route starts at the Campo di Santa Maria della Salute and ends at the cusp of the building on which the Torre della Fortuna, with its golden sphere, rises. Along the way, you look out over both the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, as if from the sides of a ship. On the occasion of exhibitions, the Pinault Collection organises guided tours, but it is also possible to be guided through the building alone, with a final aperitif on the terrace. Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi was the last palace built on the Grand Canal before the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. Since 1951, it has been a space dedicated to art, first as an International Centre for the Arts and Costume, then as a venue for major exhibitions when it was purchased by Fiat in 1983 and renovated by architect Gae Aulenti. Finally, in 2005, the palace was bought by the French collector François Pinault. In this way he created the first of his museums to display, through the use of temporary exhibitions, his immense collection of works by contemporary authors from 1960 to the present day. In 2013, the Teatrino del Palazzo, which had been created in the 1960s in the palace garden, was also restored. Today, the Teatrino offers a rich programme of concerts, screenings, lectures and cultural events. Find out more www. palazzograssi.it

The royal residence in the heart of Florence that tells the magical story of court life Near the Ponte Vecchio, the Renaissance Palazzo Pitti, part of the Museum Complex including the Vasari Corridor, the Uffizi and the Boboli Gardens, was once the residence of three dynasties: the Medici, Habsburg-Lorraine and Savoy. It was built by the noble Pitti family in 1476, based on a design by Filippo Brunelleschi; two years later, it was sold to the Medici family. In 1560, Bartolommeo Ammannati designed and built the large, lavish courtyard and added two side wings. Cosimo II de’ Medici had the forecourt enlarged and opened. The façade has remained almost unchanged, except for the two wings surrounding the square, commissioned by the Lorraine family. The palace overlooks the famous Boboli Gardens. 5 museums in one complex, for every cultural “taste” Today, it is home to five unmissable museums. The Treasury of the Grand Dukes, or the Silver Museum, houses a collection of precious objects once owned by the Medici: you can admire marvellous crystals, ambers, ivories and silver from the Medici and Salzburg Treasuries. Until a few years ago, the Porcelain Museum belonged to the Silver Museum, until it was moved to the Casino del Cavaliere at the top of the Boboli hill. The Palatine Gallery hosts the main Medici art collections, with works by Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto and Rubens and magnificent frescoes by Pietro da Cortona. Annexed to the Palatine Gallery are the Royal and Imperial Apartments (temporarily closed), with 14 state rooms with period furnishings. The Gallery of Modern Art, with splendid views of the city and the Boboli Gardens, houses a rich collection of sculptures and paintings from the 18th century Neoclassical period, the Romantic period and the Macchiaioli School, up to the early 20th century. The Museum of Costume and Fashion, in the Palazzina della Meridiana, in the south wing of the Pitti Palace, is the first state museum dedicated to the history of Italian fashion. It is arguably the most important in the world, with over 6,000 items of clothing, accessories and theatrical costumes. It is currently temporarily closed to the public. Finally, the newest Museum of Russian Icons boasts the largest collection of religious art outside Russia and the oldest in Italy.