Pietro Canonica Museum

You can feel a turn-of-the-century atmosphere in this small but precious gallery in the heart of Villa Borghese dedicated to the artist Pietro Canonica (1869-1959).

An internationally renowned sculptor, music lover, and composer, Canonica trained in Turin at the end of the 19th century and then spent a long time at the courts of Europe where the aristocracy commissioned him with portraits and commemorative monuments.

Already famous, he moved to Rome in 1922, and in 1927 he was able to obtain a concession from the Municipality to use the building as his home studio. In exchange, the artist undertook to donate, after his death, all the works he had collected there over the years so that it could become a museum named after him. From this originates the uniqueness of this museum space, which gives us back the image of this artist in his human and professional being.

The gallery offers different perspectives: the private apartment on the second floor, rich in precious 19th century Piedmont furniture and paintings that tell us his memories and personal affections; the atelier on the ground floor, which testifies to the technical expertise of the artist.

In the exhibition rooms, you can admire a large part of his works: from little busts to large equestrian statues, sculptures, sketches, models, casts, in a collection that, besides being a journey into the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th-century history, is also a didactic journey through the phases and processes of the art of sculpture.

The Museum is located in the Fortezzuola (little Fortress) and was called "Pollaio" in the documents of the 17th century. The building was used to raise ostriches, peacocks, and ducks. The current name derives from the characteristic medieval palisade tower, dating back to the late 18th century.

The Pietro Canonica Museum hosts cultural events, exhibitions, conferences, conventions, concerts, book and magazine presentations.

The library, of about 2200 volumes, is composed partly of the artist's private collection and partly of recently acquired publications and is specialized in sculpture and figurative arts of the 19th and 20th centuries. An extensive photographic archive is also available.