Museo Civico di Sansepolcro

The Museo Civico di Sansepolcro, also known as the Museo Comunale, is the town art gallery of Sansepolcro, a municipality in the Province of Arezzo in the Tuscany region of Italy. Located at Via Niccolò Aggiunti 65 near the town center, the museum was inaugurated in 1975 and is celebrated as one of the most important cultural institutions in the birthplace of Piero della Francesca, housing several of the Renaissance master's most prestigious works.

The museum's origins trace to the 18th century, when a gallery of portraits of illustrious men was established. The collection grew substantially following the suppression of religious corporations in 1866, when artworks from church properties were confiscated and incorporated into a municipal pinacoteca. This communal picture gallery served as the direct predecessor to the present Museo Civico, which opened in 1975. In the early 20th century, the museum shifted its focus to emphasize the centrality of Piero della Francesca's work, moving away from a broader narrative of local artistic history. This reorientation led to the suppression of the 'Disegni e stampe' section in 2013 and the 'Oreficeria e paramenti sacri' section in 2017, restoring the configuration of the old Pinacoteca Comunale. A major restoration of Piero della Francesca's Resurrection was completed in March 2018, undertaken by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence under Cecilia Frosinini's direction, with cleaning carried out by Paola Ilaria Mariotti and Umberto Senserini. The project, costing 40,000 euros from the Comune of Sansepolcro and 100,000 euros donated by patron Aldo Osti, revealed that the fresco had been painted elsewhere and later transferred to its present location on a wooden frame with a masonry block.

The museum's collections span painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and graphic works. The painting holdings include works by Piero della Francesca, Matteo di Giovanni, Raffaellino dal Colle, Giovanni Battista Cungi, Giovanni de' Vecchi, Santi di Tito, Raffaello Schiaminossi, Giovanni Battista Mercati, Pontormo, Leandro Bassano, Andrea Pozzo, the Alberti brothers, the Cantagallina brothers, Giovanni del Leone, and Angelo Tricca, alongside other local artists. Sculpture is represented by works from the 13th to 15th centuries, while glazed terracottas by the Della Robbia family form a significant group. The museum also holds engravings and prints from the 16th and 17th centuries, goldsmith work from the 13th to 19th centuries, and sacred vestments from the 16th to 18th centuries. The collections are displayed across ten exhibition rooms on the ground floor and first floor, with the semi-basement forming an integral part of the visitor route.

The undisputed centerpieces are four works by Piero della Francesca: the Polittico della Misericordia (1444-1464), the Resurrezione (1450-1463), San Giuliano (1454-1458), and San Ludovico di Tolosa (1460). The Resurrection, which Vasari affirmed as 'di tutte le sue, la migliore' (the best of all his works), was originally commissioned for the sala magna where council meetings were held. Executed in mixed technique, part fresco, part tempera, and part a secco, it was not originally intended for its present wall. Other principal works include Pontormo's San Quintino (1517); Raffaellino dal Colle's San Leone I Magno and Assunzione e Incoronazione della Vergine (16th century); Luca Signorelli's gonfalon with Crucifixion on one side and Santi Antonio Abate e Eligio con quattro confratelli della Confraternita di Sant'Antonio Abate on the other; and Santi di Tito's Annunciazione, Bianca Capello, Pietà, and Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto. Andrea della Robbia is represented by a Nativity (circa 1480) and a Madonna col Bambino (1502).

The museum occupies a series of linked palaces in the heart of Sansepolcro: the medieval former Palazzo della Residenza, the Palazzo dei Conservatori del Popolo (or Comunale), and the Palazzo del Capitano o Pretorio. The complex had served as government offices from the 14th century, was later converted to private housing, and incorporated the former Monte Pio, an early example of a Monte di Pietà. In 1456 the building became the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and Piero della Francesca's Resurrection fresco was commissioned for its council chamber. The Palazzo della Residenza o dei Conservatori dates originally to the Duecento (13th century) and was remodeled in the Cinquecento (16th century). The Resurrection is now visible through a glass viewing area as a detached fresco.

The Museo Civico di Sansepolcro is located at Via Niccolò Aggiunti 65, near the center of Sansepolcro, in the Province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. It is owned and operated by the Comune of Sansepolcro. The museum maintains an official website at http://www.museocivicosansepolcro.it/. Scholarly publications on the institution include works by Attilio Brilli and Francesca Chieli (Sansepolcro e i suoi musei, 2004; Piero della Francesca. Il Museo civico di Sansepolcro, 2002), and Francesca Chieli's monograph Il Museo civico di Sansepolcro (2013).