Opened in 1984, on the initiative of the Municipality in agreement with the Regional Institute for Cultural Heritage, it is housed within the ancient monastic complex of San Biagio, next to some other city cultural facilities. Its establishment dates back to 1883, by Adriano Loli Piccolomini, who gathered the entire civic heritage formed after the Napoleonic suppression of Cesena’s places of worship in some rooms of the Malatestiana Library, later supplemented by deposits and donations from private collectors and the Charity Congregation itself. Around the mid-1920s, the need for new spaces for the Malatestiana book deposits led to the dismantling of part of the collection. Numerous works of art were housed inside the Town Hall and only the most valuable paintings, in the immediate post-war period, formed a small gallery in a room of the same library. In its current location, the art gallery offers a considerable part of a heritage consisting of over three hundred pictorial specimens from the fifteenth century to the last century. It is essentially divided into two sections: the ancient and the modern-contemporary, constituted more recently. It ranges from a series of fragmentary frescoes of the Romagnola school from the 15th century, coming from various sacred places of the city and the San Biagio convent itself, to some 15th-16th century panels (among others, Madonna and Child with Saints, by the Argentinian Antonio Aleotti, 1510; the so-called Christ of Casa Lancetti, by Cesena native Scipione Sacco, 1545; Portrait of Filasio Roverella, attributed to Baldassarre Carrari). For the 17th-18th centuries, some Madonnas by Giovan Battista Salvi known as Sassoferrato are noted, works by Cignani, Todeschini, Batoni, Piazzetta, as well as paintings by some of the major local artists such as Serra, Razzani, Milani. It should be noted that two among the most prestigious works of the Gallery (The Presentation at the Temple by Francesco Francia and St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata by Guercino) are currently visible in their original churches, one in a side altar of the Basilica of Madonna del Monte, the other in the Capuchin church. The section reserved for the 19th and 20th centuries exhibits mostly works of local interest and an important graphic collection by Gino Barbieri. The part dedicated to contemporary art features some specimens from the Morellini Collection, including works by Cagli, Guttuso, Fazzini, Mazzacurati, Mirko, Melli, Turcato, Vangelli, Purificato.
Information about Municipal Art Gallery of Cesena
Via Aldini, 26,
47521 Cesena (Forlì-Cesena)
0547355727
franciosi_a@comune.cesena.fc.it
https://www.cesenacultura.it
Source: MIBACT
