Civic Museum of Palazzo della Penna

The civic museum at the Palazzo della Penna, extraordinary witness of the historic-artistic complexity of Perugia, is a place dedicated to contemporary art and to the enhancement of the cultural and artistic heritage of the area.

So named because residence of the gentry family of Perugia Arcipreti della Penna, the building rises upon remains of the Roman Marzio amphitheatre, including partially a street and a section of the mediaeval city walls, since the XVII Century it gathers a collection of art works started by Ascanio della Penna. Restored in the early XIX Century, it was frescoed by the Umbrian Painter Antonio Castelletti, with themes inspired by Paris Myth. Of the same period are the ideal views in the Sala dei Paesaggi (landscape room), by the decorator and scenographer Pasquale Angelini. In the ‘80s of last Century the gentry building became museum site through a series of interventions, among which the helicoidal staircase by the famous architect Franco Minissi, uniting three of the four floors of the palace.  

In its new destination as public museum building, Palazzo della Penna hosts two permanent collection of high values:

Gerardo Dottori and the Umbrian Futurists: rich series of masterpieces by Gerardo Dottori, theoretician of aeropainting and of the futuristic sacred art, and of other important artists of this area.   

Joseph Beuys in Perugia, 6 big boards of the Opera Unica, dedicated to the actual social and political effort, drawn by the German Artist Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986) during a performance by the Rocca Paolina on the 3rd April 1980 during a public meeting with Alberto Burri, in one of the most iconic moments of contemporary art history in Perugia.