Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori

Villa Mimbelli houses Livorno’s Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori, a civic collection centered on Giovanni Fattori and the Macchiaioli. The museum also presents works by artists including Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini, Giovanni Boldini and Amedeo Modigliani.

Why it matters

The museum traces the history of Livorno’s civic art collection and its changing homes, from the first public gallery to its present setting in Villa Mimbelli. Its name honors Fattori, a leading painter of the Macchiaioli, the Tuscan movement represented throughout the collection.

What to notice

The collection brings together paintings, drawings and prints by Fattori and other nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists. Villa Mimbelli’s historic rooms provide the setting for this account of Livorno’s artistic life.

Context and history

The collection’s origins date to 1857, when a citizens’ commission donated Enrico Pollastrini’s Gli esuli di Siena. A public pinacoteca opened in 1877, followed by a civic museum in 1896; it took Fattori’s name in 1935. After wartime damage, the collection reopened at Villa Fabbricotti in 1950 and moved to Villa Mimbelli in 1994.