The Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi is the main art museum hosting the pre-modern art collections owned by the city of

Lucca, Italy Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

. The museum is located in a refurbished villa on Via della Quarquonia, completed in 1418 for

Paolo Guinigi Paolo Guinigi (c. 1372 - 1432) was a lord of Lucca from 1400 until 1430. Biography Paolo was born in Lucca in 1372. He was the youngest son of Francesco Guinigi, member of one of the most outstanding families of Lucca. He was sent to London in 13 ...

, ruler of Lucca until 1430. After his death, the building was confiscated by the republic, and it has served various purposes over the years. Only in 1924 was it selected to house the art collection, which until then was housed in the

Palazzo Pubblico The Palazzo Pubblico (''town hall'') is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 to serve as the seat of the Republic of Siena's government, which consisted of the Podestà and Council of Nine, the elected officia ...

. In 1948 it was donated to the Italian state, which carried out a more organized preservation campaign and at the same time rearranged the collection, subsequently distributing it between this villa and the Palazzo Mansi. The late-Gothic building was constructed from 1413 to 1418 as a ''Villa di Delizia''. It has an imposing brick façade with central ground-floor portico. Once elaborately decorated by Guinigi, it now houses collections of mainly the ancient, medieval, renaissance, baroque, and neoclassic periods.Official Site

Gallery

File:Berlinghiero_berlinghieri,_croce_firmata_con_dolenti,_assunta,_diniego_di_pietro,_evangelisti,_1200-1250_ca.,_da_s.m._degli_angeli_(LU)_01.JPG,

Berlinghiero Berlinghieri Berlinghiero also known as Berlinghiero Berlinghieri or Berlinghiero of Lucca (floruit, fl. 1228 – between 1236 and 1242), was an Italian painter in the Italo-Byzantine style of the early thirteenth century. He was the father of the painter ...

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''Crucifix'', ca. 1220. File:Fra_Bartolomeo_002.jpg,

Fra Bartolomeo Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di S. Marco, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Italian Renaissance painter of religious subjects. ...

:
''God the Father with Sts Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalen'', 1508

References

External links

Villas in Lucca Buildings and structures completed in 1418 Museums in Lucca Art museums and galleries in Tuscany National museums of Italy {{Italy-museum-stub