Como Civic Art Gallery

The Pinacoteca Civica di Palazzo Volpi is the town art gallery of Como, located at Via Diaz 84 in Como, Lombardy, Italy. Housed in the 17th-century Palazzo Volpi, the gallery opened in 1989 and serves as the principal civic repository for art from the Como region. It forms part of the Musei civici di Como, alongside the Museo archeologico "P. Giovio", the Museo Storico "Giuseppe Garibaldi", and the Tempio Voltiano. The institution preserves and displays works ranging from Carolingian sculpture to 20th-century abstraction, with particular strengths in medieval religious art, Renaissance commissions for Como Cathedral, and modernist movements associated with the city.

The gallery's building originated as a private palace commissioned by Volpiano Volpi (1559-1629), archbishop of Chieti and papal nuncio, who resided in Rome. He engaged architect Sergio Venturi to design the structure, which was constructed between 1622 and 1633 under the supervision of his nephew Pietro Paolo Raimondi and master builder Marco Dotti di Piazza. The intended U-shaped plan with a garden courtyard remained incomplete on the northern side. The palace and its garden stayed in Volpi family hands until the mid-18th century, then passed to the Canarisi family, and were sold to the state in 1839 for judicial administration. In 1855, prison buildings replaced the garden, while the palace served as the seat of Como's Court of Assizes until 1968. The municipality of Como acquired the building in the 1970s. Architect Gianfranco Caniggia directed restoration work that removed 19th-century additions, and the palace was converted into a museum in 1989. Further renovation of the exhibition installations occurred in 2003 to adapt the space specifically for the civic art collections.

The permanent exhibition is organized in four chronological sections: Medieval, Renaissance, Historical Picture Gallery (Quadreria storica), and 20th Century (Novecento). A temporary exhibition space called the "Campo quadro" supplements these permanent displays. The collection's core of pre-19th-century works derives largely from suppressed ecclesiastical institutions in the Como area. The medieval section, located in the palace's southern wing, encompasses Carolingian stone materials, Romanesque and Gothic sculpture, and frescoes spanning from the late 6th to the 14th century. The Renaissance section focuses on humanist culture through the Giovio family, cathedral workshop materials, and regional traces of Renaissance art. The Historical Picture Gallery presents artists active in Como from the 16th through 19th centuries, including large altarpieces from demolished city churches and paintings from private collections. The 20th-century section documents Como's role in modernism through photographs, paintings, drawings, and sculpture, with particular attention to Antonio Sant'Elia's visionary urbanism, rationalist architecture, the Como Group of abstract artists, and the work of Ico Parisi. The gallery also maintains an archive of 20th-century architectural drawings, including the Antonio Sant'Elia archive, and a specialized art library.

Among the medieval works, the gallery preserves Carolingian sculptures from the Basilica of Sant'Abbondio and a stone sundial dated 1193 from the Abbey of Acquafredda di Lenno. Romanesque reliefs once chaotically embedded in the staircase of Palazzo Giovio are now properly displayed. The Renaissance section includes Paolo Giovio's portraits of illustrious men and materials from Como Cathedral: stained glass, sculptures, tapestries, wooden models, and drawings related to the dome project. Notable paintings in the Historical Picture Gallery include the Virgin (Virgo advocata) attributed to Jacomart and Pere Joan Reixach; Country Concert by Ambrosius Benson, painted on a 16th-century table; a Birth of the Virgin tapestry from Como Cathedral; an illuminated Book of Hours from Milan; and Nativity by Giovanni Andrea de Magistris, father of Simone de Magistris. The fresco Madonna with Child among Saints Cosma and Damiano (1515) by the Master of the SS. Cosma and Damiano and two lunettes from the demolished Dominican monastery of San Giovanni in Pedemonte, Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli called "Morazzone" and Triumph of the Archangel Michael by Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, are significant works. The Baroque is represented by Miracle of the Eucharist (1629) by Cristoforo Caresana and St Peter healing a Young Man (1629) by Giovanni Paolo Ghianda, both from San Giovanni Pedemonte, as well as Madonna Assunta with Saints Roch, Catherine, and Agnes by a young Giulio Cesare Procaccini. The 18th-century holdings include Pietro Ligari's Guardian Angel (1734) from Como Cathedral, the Consecration of Cardinal Giuseppe Pozzobonelli by Giovanni Paolo Panini, Vulcan by Pompeo Batoni, and a Portrait of a Noblewoman by Alessandro Magnasco. The Portrait of Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna (1559) by Bernardino Campi depicts the prince of Sabbioneta in Habsburg official parade armor. The 20th-century collection features Futurist works by Antonio Sant'Elia, abstract art by the Como Group, and works by Ico Parisi, alongside projects by Giuseppe Terragni and paintings by Mario Radice and Carla.

Palazzo Volpi stands as an expression of mixed architectural cultures, combining Roman and Como traditions. Sergio Venturi's design for Volpiano Volpi produced a sober Renaissance-style palace on Via Diaz 84. The building's construction between 1622 and 1633 realized only a portion of the intended U-shaped plan with an open garden courtyard. The incomplete northern section remains a physical reminder of the project's interrupted ambition. The palace's transformation into a civic museum required the removal of 19th-century additions during the 1970s restoration, returning the structure closer to its original character before its 1989 opening and 2003 renovation for exhibition purposes.

The Pinacoteca Civica di Palazzo Volpi is located at Via Diaz 84 in Como, Lombardy, Italy. As a municipal institution owned by the city of Como, it operates as part of the Musei civici di Como network. The gallery's present role centers on preserving and exhibiting the region's artistic heritage across four permanent chronological sections, supplemented by temporary exhibitions in the "Campo quadro" space. Visitors can access the medieval, Renaissance, historical picture gallery, and 20th-century collections, along with the specialized art library and architectural drawing archives. Information about current visiting hours and access procedures is available through the municipal tourism website.