Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto

The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, officially abbreviated as MART, is a museum centre in the Italian autonomous province of Trento. Its main site is located in Rovereto, a town south of Trento, with an additional section in Trento itself. Founded in 1987 and opening to the public in its present form on 15 December 2002, MART holds a permanent collection of more than 15,000 artworks spanning paintings, drawings, engravings, and sculptures. The institution is particularly significant for its holdings of Italian Futurism, notably the legacy of Fortunato Depero, and operates the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero in Rovereto as part of its network.

MART originated in 1987 as an autonomous entity within the autonomous province of Trento, initially housed in the Palazzo delle Albere in Trento. The concept of expanding the museum to unite Fortunato Depero's Futurist legacy with the dispersed holdings of the Trento Regional Arts Museum (Museo Provinciale d'Arte di Trento) emerged in 1991, championed by curator Gabriella Belli. This expansion aimed to create not merely an exhibition space but also a research centre for Futurism and twentieth-century art. After years of planning and construction, MART opened its new headquarters in Rovereto on 15 December 2002. The Trento section was subsequently relocated to the Galleria Civica di Trento in via Belenzani 44 on 19 October 2013. Belli served as director from 1989 to 2011, followed by Cristiana Collu (2012-2015), Gianfranco Maraniello (2015-2020), Diego Ferretti (2020-2025), and Micol Forti from 2025.

The permanent collection encompasses approximately 15,000 to 20,000 works, depending on the count, with particular strength in the avant-gardes of the twentieth century. The nucleus of Futurist art stands out, anchored by the more than 3,000 works from Fortunato Depero's bequest, ranging from paintings and theatre posters to sculptures, furniture, tapestries, and toys. Beyond Futurism, the collection traces a path from nineteenth-century art through the Novecento movement to contemporary practice. Significant holdings include works by Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, Carlo Carrà, Mario Sironi, Felice Casorati, and Antonio Rotta, as well as the Futurist Angiolino Spallanzani. The museum also administers numerous private collections, including the Talamoni and VAF-Stiftung collections, and houses the Archivio del '900, its research centre devoted to twentieth-century art.

The most distinctive holdings are the Depero works at the Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero, the only Italian museum dedicated exclusively to Futurism. This satellite museum at via Portici 38 in Rovereto presents Depero's comprehensive vision through his multidisciplinary output. The main MART building displays masterworks by the key figures of Italian modernism, with significant concentrations of De Chirico's metaphysical painting, Carrà's transitional works, and Morandi's quiet modernism. The collection's range from nineteenth-century roots through avant-garde experiment to contemporary practice allows for wide-ranging temporary exhibitions; between 2002 and 2014, MART organised more than 120 exhibitions across its four sites and produced numerous exhibitions abroad. Notable recent exhibitions have included surveys of Francesco Lo Savio, Gianfranco Baruchello, Richard Artschwager, and thematic shows such as Magic Realism in 1920s and 1930s Italian painting.

The Rovereto headquarters was designed by Ticinese architect Mario Botta with structural engineer Giulio Andreolli from Rovereto. The 29,000 square metre site on Via Bettini presented the challenge of two substantial eighteenth-century town houses (Palazzo Alberti Poja and Palazzo Annona) standing between the road and the buildable area; Botta exploited the gap between them as the museum entrance. His design, developed from 1987, realises a "pantheon without a facade": three storeys of museum space arranged around a vast circular agora crowned by a 40-metre diameter glass and steel dome rising 25 metres above the floor. The cupola incorporates a deliberately "missing slice" enabled by complex engineering, and beneath it sits a fountain in the central piazza. The wall facings employ yellow Vicenza stone, Palladio's favoured material, but with an innovative attachment system permitting individual slab replacement without structural disturbance. The agora accommodates up to 1,200 visitors. The building provides 12,000 square metres of space, half for exhibitions and half for research, library, shop, and cafeteria. Construction lasted five years with total costs of 50 million euros.

MART operates as a prestige project of the Trentino province, with its main site at corso Bettini 43 in Rovereto and the Trento section at the Galleria Civica, via Belenzani 44. The museum complex functions as a cultural pole for the region, integrating exhibition, research, and education. Visitors access the Rovereto building through the passage between the two historic palazzi, entering Botta's domed agora as the central orienting space. The Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero at via Portici 38 operates as a separate but linked site. The museum maintains an active programme of temporary exhibitions and, through its directorship and research archives, continues to shape scholarship on Futurism and Italian modernism.