Galleria Nazionale di Cosenza

The Galleria Nazionale di Cosenza is housed in Palazzo Arnone, a sixteenth-century building in the city’s historic centre. Its collection includes paintings from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, with works by Calabrian artists alongside a seventeenth-century group featuring Mattia Preti and Luca Giordano.

Why it matters

The gallery brings together artists from Calabria and the wider history of southern Italian painting. Its collection includes works by Pietro Negroni, Marco Cardisco and Francesco Cozza, as well as paintings by Preti and Giordano. The museum also includes graphics by Umberto Boccioni and sculpture by artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Emilio Greco, Antonietta Raphaël, Pietro Consagra, Mimmo Rotella and Bizhan Bassiri.

What to notice

The gallery’s seventeenth-century works by Preti and Giordano sit alongside earlier paintings by artists active in Calabria. A graphics section includes Boccioni’s work from 1906 to 1915, including studies connected with La risata. The sculpture collection spans different approaches to modern art, from works by de Chirico and Raphaël to those by Consagra, Rotella and Bassiri. A long-term loan from a banking collection includes a panel attributed to Giovanni Bellini; it is distinct from the gallery’s own holdings.

Context and history

Palazzo Arnone took shape in the sixteenth century and now houses the state gallery. The Ministry of Culture identifies the museum as part of the national museum system in Calabria. Its holdings and loans bring together works from different periods, while the building provides a historic setting for the collection.