The city of museums

Piacenza may offers a varied range of museum. People may choose from Ancient or Contemporary Art, as shown by Musei Civici di Palazzo Farnese on the one hand and Galleria di Arte Moderna Ricci oddi and Galleria alberoni on the had, wich are both internationally renowned. Not maention the collection in the other city museums, ranging from natural Sciences and technology to local costumes and tradition, to history and archaeology.

- GALLERIA E COLLEGIO ALBERONI founded by the cardinal Giolio Alberoni and inaugurated in 1751, keeps its function as training school to prepare for ecclesiastical life and as theological, a philosophical and scientific research center. It has a 130.000 colume libray, a physics laboratory. A natural Sciences laboratory, a Seismic and Meteorlogical Observatory (1802) and an astronomical sight glass called Specola Astronomica (1870) all working perfectly. In the Cardinal’s apartment are preserved, together with the Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina – the core of the collection – there is the precious diptych by Provost and further precious works by Flemish artist, not to mention works by the major painters of the 17^th century (Luca Giordano, Guido Reni). In the new Galleria Alberoni, now a museum, congress and concert hall, is preserved part of Alberoni’s collection of painting.

- GALLERIA D’ARTE MODERNA RICCI ODDI: the extraordinary collection, the gift to the city by the nobleman from Piacenza, Giuseppe Ricci, includes mostly works, which may date back to the period between 1830 and 1930. it is displayed in a building specifically designed by the architect Giulio Ulisse Arata. It contains, among many other, works by: Fontanesi, Bot, Mancini, Bruzzi 20^th century foreign and Italian artists.

- MUSEI CIVICI DI PALAZZO FARNESE: the museums cover the Visconti fortress (1373) and the male Farnesiana – stronghold – built between 1558 and 1559. the stucco frames in the apartments contain Fasti farnesiani – the “Farnese’s splendours” – describing the deeds of Paolo III and Alessandro Farnese, completed by Fasti di Elisabetta – Elisabeth’s splendours – in the Art Gallery. Here, among valuable paintings from the 14^th and 19^th centuries, Botticelli’s tondo stand out: the Vrigin Mary in adoration of the Child with the young St.John the Baptist. The basement in occupied by Museo delle Carrozze (carriage museum) containing rare and precious examples of carriage from the 17^th to the 20^th centuries.