Museo Novecento

Florence's Museo Novecento occupies the former Spedale di San Paolo on Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Its collections and exhibition history focus on modern and contemporary art within a building shaped by earlier charitable and educational uses.

Why it matters

The museum gives civic collections of twentieth-century art a distinct place within Florence's cultural history. Alberto Della Ragione's gift and the artists' response to the flood of 1966 form important parts of that history.

What to notice

The Della Ragione collection includes works by artists such as Giorgio Morandi, Filippo de Pisis and Renato Guttuso. Ottone Rosai's work supplies a strong Florentine connection. These collections contrast with the older architecture of the hospital complex, whose loggia and courtyard spaces recall its former public role.

Context and history

The Spedale di San Paolo originated as a medieval charitable institution. It later served convalescents before conversion into the Scuole Leopoldine in 1780. After the 1966 flood, Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti's Artisti per Firenze appeal encouraged donations for a future modern-art museum. Della Ragione donated his collection in 1969. Museo Novecento opened in the restored complex in 2014.