Museo Revoltella - Galleria d'Arte Moderna

The Museo Revoltella combines a nineteenth-century residence with a modern art gallery transformed through a project by Carlo Scarpa. Founded in 1872 from Pasquale Revoltella's bequest, it connects Trieste's mercantile society with the history of Italian painting and sculpture.

Why it matters

Revoltella left the city his home, artworks, furnishings and books, together with an endowment for further acquisitions. This foundation enabled the collection to grow beyond the founder's taste, extending from nineteenth-century art into twentieth-century movements and postwar experimentation.

What to notice

Friedrich Hitzig designed Palazzo Revoltella, built between 1854 and 1858. Its state rooms preserve the character of the founder's residence. The adjoining Palazzo Brunner has a markedly different interior, shaped by Scarpa's arrangement of levels and galleries within retained perimeter walls. The collection includes works by Hayez and Favretto alongside twentieth-century artists such as Morandi, De Chirico and Burri; sculpture provides another strand of the museum's holdings.

Context and history

The municipality bought Palazzo Brunner in 1907. Scarpa received the transformation commission in 1963, and Franco Vattolo and Giampaolo Bartoli subsequently continued the work. Completion in 1991 and reopening in June 1992 brought this long architectural project into the museum's history.