Galleria Rizzi

The Rizzi family's collection, begun by a country doctor in 1897, became Sestri Levante's state-owned house museum. Paintings, Albisola ceramics, furniture and Amos Nattini's illustrated Divine Comedy reflect the family's collecting across generations.

Why it matters

Galleria Rizzi began with Doctor Vittorio Rizzi's collecting in 1897. The physician, a Piacenza native, acquired works from antiquarians and noble families, including the Anguissola, Landi, Pollastrelli and Nasalli Rocca collections. His sons Ferdinando and Marcello continued after his death in 1916 and developed the family residence as a gallery from 1926. Marcello, the last of the line, left the collection to the Italian state in 1960 on condition that a Rizzi foundation be created and the museum opened; it received the public from 1967. The Ministry of Culture owns the holdings.

What to notice

The collection spans the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries and retains the character of a house museum, with rooms arranged as a late nineteenth-century bourgeois home on the first floor and paintings, prints and drawings from later periods on the upper floors. Ligurian ceramics from Savona and Albisola sit alongside furniture, textiles and sculpture. The gallery holds an original copy of Amos Nattini's illustrated Divina Commedia Monumentale, produced between 1921 and 1941.

Context and history

The Rizzi family collected works over generations, building a substantial collection through acquisitions from private and noble holdings. The 1926 building campaign turned the family's collection into a dedicated gallery. Marcello Rizzi's 1960 bequest established the conditions for a foundation, public opening and state ownership. The Fondazione Galleria Rizzi manages the collection, and the Ministry of Culture's regional superintendency has coordinated restoration of works, including paintings restored in 2020–2021.