The collection is almost entirely made up of weapons collected by Marquis Raffaello Albicini and donated to the city by his son Livio in the early 1900s. Initially housed in the Palazzo della Missione, the Armory was moved in 1922 to Palazzo Merenda, where it still preserves the original layout almost intact. The exhibition, set in three large rooms on the noble floor decorated with the heraldic emblems of the main Forlì families, with the arrangement of weapons ‘as trophies’ and the parade of pole weapons, reflects the collector’s vaguely neo-Gothic taste. More than seven hundred examples of weapons from the 15th century to the late 19th century are on display. They range from pole weapons (falchions, partisan poles, billhooks, corseques, halberds, breaching quarterstaves, lances, as well as a brandistock with retractable blades) to armor (some of which have very high historical value, such as the tournament armor belonging to Bruno Zampeschi, lord of Forlì in the late 1500s). The collection of swords and small swords is particularly extensive. Among the seventeen arquebuses is the 16th-century Sforza Pallavicino, with a lock decorated by a finely worked iron plate with openwork motifs of scrolls and small satyr figures. Among the short firearms, there is a pistol by the “Master of the Animal Head Vines” (circa 1620) and an “Acquafresca” pistol (circa 1695). Attached to the Albicini Armory is a collection of various weapons from the Congo, donated by Virginia Pedriali to the city of Forlì.
Information about Albicini Armory
Corso della Repubblica, 72,
47121 Forlì (Forlì-Cesena)
0543712606
servizio.pinacoteca.musei@cofo.it
https://www.cultura.comune.forli.fo.it
Source: MIBACT
