The Palazzo dei Musei is the civic museum located in front of Piazza Martiri del 7 Luglio, facing the Valli Municipal Theatre, in central

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

. The collection is diverse and includes works of art, archeology, history, and natural history.

History

The buildings prior housed the church of San Luca and an adjacent palace, but were granted in 1256 to the

Franciscan order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

by the then bishop Guglielmo Fogliani. The structures were converted into a monastery. During the Napoleonic occupation, the monastery was suppressed and the building became both barracks and stable. The building also housed various schools. It was designated to display civic collections in 1830, beginning with the natural history and travel collections of

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzani (; 12 January 1729 – 11 February 1799) was an Italian Catholic priest (for which he was nicknamed Abbé Spallanzani), biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily function ...

, purchased by the Municipality in 1799. In 1862 the Don

Gaetano Chierici Gaetano Chierici (1838–1920) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre works. Biography He was born in Reggio Emilia, and attended the Reggio Emilia School of Fine Arts in 1850 and 1851. Chierici continued his studies at the academies of Modena a ...

began displaying another collection of local minerals, fossils, and archeologic findings. The Marbles Gallery, established and open to the public in 1875, displaying stone mosaics, sculptures, and architectural fragments dating from Roman era to the 19th century. In addition to the Spallanzani collection there are zoologic (Antonio Vallisneri room), anatomic (Paolo Assalini room), botanical and ethnographic (

Giambattista Venturi Giovanni Battista Venturi (11 September 1746 – 10 September 1822) was an Italian physicist, savant, man of letters, diplomat and historian of science. He was the discoverer of the Venturi effect, which was described in 1797 in his ''Recherches E ...

room) collections. Among the displays is the fossils of the Valentina whale (2001), a 3.5 million-year-old fossil cetacean found on the hills, were added to the 19th-century collections from the Secchia Valley. The

Antonio Fontanesi Antonio Fontanesi (23 February 1818 – 17 April 1882) was an Italian painter who lived in Meiji period Japan between 1876 and 1878. He introduced European oil painting techniques to Japan, and exerted a significant role in the development of mo ...

Gallery contains artworks from the 14th to the 20th century. It contains artworks collected by the Bank of Bipop-Carire. The museum has paintings and works by

Antonio Ligabue Antonio Ligabue (18 December 1899 – 27 May 1965; born Antonio Laccabue) was an Italian Painting, painter. He was one of the most important Naïve artists of the 20th century. Biography He was born in Zürich, Switzerland on 18 December 1899, t ...

Fausto Melotti Fausto Melotti (1901–1986) was an Italian sculptor, ceramicist, poet, and theorist. Life Fausto Melotti was born in the city of Rovereto, a city just east of Lake Garda in northeastern Italy in 1901. He had a sister, Renata Melotti, who was ...

;

Claudio Parmiggiani Claudio is an Italian and Spanish first name. In Portuguese, it is accented Cláudio. In Catalan and Occitan, it is Claudi, while in Romanian it is Claudiu. Origin and history Claudius was the name of an eminent Roman gens, the most importan ...

, and Marco Gerra. In 2005, the building was refurbished and restored by

Italo Rota Italo Rota (2 October 1953 – 6 April 2024) was an Italian architect. Biography Born in Milan in 1953, he obtained a degree in Architecture at Milan Polytechnic University in 1982. Before that, he had started off in the architecture firms of ...

.Reggio Emilia Welcome site

Gallery

File:Il palazzo dei musei.jpg, Facade and Piazza File:Atrio dei mosaici - Palazzo dei Musei - Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia 01.jpg, Atrium with Roman mosaics, entrance to Spallanzani collections File:Venere di Chiozza 01.jpg, Venus of Chiozza File:Balena Valentina.jpg, Balena Valentina File:Museo Chierici di Paletnologia - Cranioteca (cropped).jpg, Paleontology collection of human skulls

Bibliography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reggio Emilia Buildings and structures in Reggio Emilia Museums in Reggio Emilia Palaces in Reggio Emilia Archaeological museums in Italy Natural history museums in Italy