Gallerie del Progetto di Palazzo Valvason Morpurgo

The Gallerie del Progetto at Palazzo Valvason Morpurgo preserve architecture and design collections within a historic Udine residence. Drawings, models and photographs document the stages between an idea and its built or manufactured form.

Why it matters

The holdings include archives associated with Raimondo D'Aronco, Pietro Zanini and Marcello D'Olivo. Together they connect Friulian architectural culture with the transition from Liberty design to modernism. Industrial-design material, including appliance renderings from the Electrolux Zanussi collection, extends the subject into domestic technology.

What to notice

The palace itself embodies successive design decisions. The facade and courtyard loggia-belvedere with sculptures of the Seasons belong to the Sarmede renovation around 1705. Neoclassical frescoes by Giambattista Canal and Giuseppe Borsato reflect the Valvason family's later patronage. Leonardo Liso's Nymph above the garden fountain belongs to the Morpurgo phase of alteration.

Context and history

The residence developed through the combination of earlier houses and subsequent remodelling. Enrico Morpurgo bequeathed it to Udine in 1969 for museum use. The Gallerie del Progetto were established there in 2003, adding architectural and design history to the city's civic collections.