Pinacoteca Comunale di Faenza

Faenza's Pinacoteca Comunale preserves paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints within the former Jesuit complex beside Santa Maria dell'Angelo. Its collections trace local artistic traditions alongside works connected with wider Italian and European art.

Why it matters

The gallery developed from the late eighteenth-century formation of a civic collection, including works from suppressed religious houses. It later brought together religious paintings, academic study material and modern art, giving Faenza a museum history distinct from its celebrated ceramic collections.

What to notice

Renaissance works include Donatello's Saint Jerome and paintings by Marco Palmezzano and Giovanni Battista Bertucci. Felice Giani represents the city's Neoclassical culture. Domenico Baccarini and the artists of his circle reveal the renewal of Faenza's art around 1900, while bronzes by Auguste Rodin connect the collection with an international sculptural context. Drawings and prints provide another dimension to these painted and sculpted works.

Context and history

The collection's origins date to 1797 and are associated with Giuseppe Zauli and the Napoleonic suppressions. Public opening in the former Jesuit convent followed in 1879. Later acquisitions and deposits extended the holdings into the twentieth century, while reinstallation in 2021 added a further chapter to the presentation of the collection.