Fellini Museum

Rimini's Fellini Museum interprets the filmmaker's life across Castel Sismondo, Palazzo del Fulgor and Piazza Malatesta. The three settings connect the city's architecture with Fellini's memories and films.

Why it matters

The Fellini Museum is a distributed museum project connecting Castel Sismondo, Palazzo del Fulgor and Piazza Malatesta. Designed by Orazio Carpenzano with artistic and multimedia work by Studio Azzurro, it treats Fellini's life and films through architecture, images and narrative rather than a conventional display of objects. Fellini was born in Rimini in 1920, and the Fulgor cinema was part of his early experience of film. The museum's castle galleries opened in August 2021, and the Fulgor Palace followed in December of that year.

What to notice

Castel Sismondo contains installations that evoke Fellini's imagination, including the confessionals of professions, the hall of swings, the dreaming giantess and references to the Libro dei sogni. Piazza Malatesta extends the museum into an open-air setting, with a mist effect recalling the Rex of Amarcord and the Bosco dei nomi, a wood of stone flowers engraved with names associated with Fellini and international cinema. At Palazzo del Fulgor, the design uses monochrome vertical spaces, a room of words and the House of the Magician. A rhinoceros sculpture recalls E la nave va. The restored Cinema Fulgor retains set design by Dante Ferretti.

Context and history

The Comune di Rimini, Regione Emilia-Romagna and Ministry of Culture developed the museum across three sites around Piazza Malatesta. The building is associated with the cinema where Fellini's interest in film began. The project combines architectural settings, film history and material related to the director's work.