Pinacoteca civica di Como

Como Civic Art Gallery occupies three floors of seventeenth-century Palazzo Volpi and presents works from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, including medieval frescoes, Paolo Giovio's Renaissance portrait collection, Baroque paintings, Futurist drawings and works by Como's abstract artists. It opened in 1989.

Why it matters

The collection grew through bequests, donations and acquisitions. It brings together the sixteenth-century Famous Men portraits assembled by humanist Paolo Giovio, drawings by Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, and paintings by twentieth-century artists associated with the Gruppo Como abstractionists. These holdings connect Como's civic art history with broader developments in Italian art and design.

What to notice

The medieval section contains sculpture and fresco fragments dating from the late sixth to the fourteenth century. Renaissance rooms include Paolo Giovio's Famous Men portraits. The Quadreria presents seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings, while upper floors trace twentieth-century art from Futurism onward, including the section Campo quadro. Antonio Sant'Elia's architectural drawings for Città Nuova connect with Como's Rationalist architecture. Palazzo Volpi, the gallery's seventeenth-century setting on Via Diaz, is itself part of the city's architectural history.

Context and history

The gallery opened in 1989 as the most recent seat of Como's civic museum system, which also includes the archaeological museum and the historical museum. Bequests, donations and acquisitions shaped a collection documenting the artistic life of Como and its territory. Paintings arrived from suppressed or restored religious buildings; portraits, landscapes and genre scenes accumulated through civic generosity; the twentieth-century holdings formed around living artists and their estates. The three strands that define the collection — the Giovio portraits, the Sant'Elia drawings and the Comasco abstractionists — each represent a moment when Como looked outward and shaped wider culture. The gallery's remit also includes bibliographic and archival collections on archaeology, local art and history, alongside temporary exhibitions and educational programmes.