Liberty Museum

Mausoleum Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The first museum of Liberty in Italy

Dream comes true.

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Museo del Liberty
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Faccanoni Museum (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The shores of Lake Iseo see the first Museum of Liberty in Italy rise in the ancient village of Sarnico.

Alassio - Villa Il Mare Alassio - Villa Il Mare, Pietro Fenoglio, Gottardo Gussoni, Gottardo Gussoni, 1914, From the collection of: Italia Liberty
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Villa Pietro Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Art critics such as Rossana Bossaglia and Lara Vinca Masini had written and spoken often about that happy artistic movement called Art Nouveau, but never before has a place open to everyone been established in the beautiful country, where you can experience first hand the golden era of the Belle Époque, with the opportunity to enjoy live and touch lithographs, furniture, original objects of the period.

Villa Romeo Faccanoni (1912/1914) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

This style which at the beginning of the twentieth century marked an aesthetic for modern Italy finds its place in via Antonio Buelli 25, in Sarnico, in the meanders of a medieval tower.

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The souls who gave life to this dream - also committed with love, passion and own resources - go from the first citizen Giorgio Bertazzoli, to the delegate to beauty Andrea Speziale. Thanks to their commitment, combined with that of the entire city council, and to the strength of the citizens, they can finally write a chapter in the history of this Liberty village, crowning a more than sought-after and sought-after goal.

Savona - Villa Zanelli Savona - Villa Zanelli (1910) by Pietro Fenoglio, Gottardo Gussoni, and Gottardo GussoniItalia Liberty

Villa Giuseppe Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The museum was designed in the Bergamo area because a few minutes from the Villas at the Asylum to the Sarnicense Mausoleum designed by Giuseppe Sommaruga, the undisputed protagonist of this style that gave the city a showcase of uniqueness when he signed the projects for the Faccanoni family at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Milan international exhibition Milan international exhibition (1906) by Leopoldo MetlicovitzItalia Liberty

Among the graphics on display are those of artists such as Alfons Mucha, Plinio Nomellini, Giuseppe Palanti, Leopoldo Melticovitz, Adolfo Hohenstein, Tito Corbella and Raphael Kirchner; while those in the private collection include graphics by Aleardo Terzi, Henri Bellery Desfontaines, Mardello Dudovich, Edward Burne-Jones, Giorgio Kienerk, Henri Riviere, Giovanni Maria Mataloni, Granville Fell, Alexandre Charpentier, Pio Collivadino, Aubrey Beardsley and Eugène Grasset. On display there will be works by about fifty Italian and foreign artists to testify what was the artistic current known as Art Nouveau (New art in France). 

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Almost all the works come from famous magazines of the time such as Novissima, Illustrated Scene, Italy Ride and La Grande Illustration in Italy, The Studio magazine London, The International Studio magazine New York, L'Estampe Moderne and Le Mois in France.

Villa Pietro Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

As the floral style accompanied the crisis of the Great War, offering bronze artifacts still exposed in the Monumentals, today, with the new coronavirus, this style returns to the limelight fighting to impose beauty and transmit the warm colors and sinuous lines that we find in the majolica, in the lithographs and in art objects: stimuli of joy and liveliness in the hopeful souls of those who resist surrounded by the walls of their homes. In 2020, therefore, the window opens to the Museum of Liberty digitally - to then open its doors also in the physical world once this difficult historical moment has been overcome. Here on Google Arts & Culture you can admire some masterpieces in preview.

Villa Giuseppe Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Bernasconi (1906) by Alfredo CampaniniItalia Liberty

The wrought iron by Alessandro Mazzucotelli The wrought iron by Alessandro Mazzucotelli (1900) by Alessandro MazzucotelliItalia Liberty

Villa Pietro Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Credits: Story

www.italialiberty.it/museoliberty

Thanks to Nicolò Locatelli for the contribution of the written texts.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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