Galleria d'Arte Moderna Achille Forti

The Achille Forti Modern Art Gallery presents modern and contemporary art within Verona’s medieval Palazzo della Ragione. Its collection grew from civic gifts and the 1937 bequest of botanist Achille Forti, and includes works spanning the nineteenth century to the present.

Why it matters

The gallery’s collection took shape through several acts of civic generosity. Sculptor Ugo Zannoni donated about two hundred works between 1905 and 1919, and three rooms for modern artists opened in the civic museum at Palazzo Pompei in 1908. The decisive bequest came in 1937, when Achille Forti left the city his family palace and private art collection. The collection’s first dedicated seat was Palazzo Emilei Forti; the gallery is now housed within the Palazzo della Ragione complex, the medieval centre of Verona’s civic government.

What to notice

The gallery’s permanent collection includes about 230 modern and contemporary works. Medardo Rosso’s sculpture, Francesco Hayez’s nineteenth-century paintings and works by Giulio Paolini and Vanessa Beecroft trace a line from Romanticism to contemporary art. The building adds its own historical dimension: gallery rooms form part of a complex that includes the red-marble Scala della Ragione, the Torre dei Lamberti and the Cappella dei Notai. The collection and its setting bring modern art into dialogue with Verona’s medieval civic architecture.

Context and history

The civic museum first made space for modern artists in 1908, following Zannoni’s donations. Forti’s 1937 bequest of his family palace and collection gave the institution a dedicated home and its present name. Licisco Magagnato directed Verona’s museums from 1955 to 1986, and Giorgio Cortenova led the gallery from 1985 to 2008, building on its modern and contemporary focus. The gallery’s move to the Palazzo della Ragione complex links this collection to the history of the city’s medieval palace of justice.