Museo del Novecento e del Contemporaneo at Palazzo Fabroni

Palazzo Fabroni is a centre for contemporary visual arts located in an old tower-house in Pistoia, transformed into a museum that is also a meeting space dedicated to reflections on contemporary art. 

The Palazzo’s ancient core, acquired around the mid 14th century by the noble Dondori family of Pistoia, was a tower-house, which was then purchased by the Fabroni family in the 17th century and restructured in the 18th, with its current striking façade. 

Today, the Palazzo, now belonging to the local authorities, hosts temporary exhibitions and a permanent collection that allows for a curatorial insight into the contemporary artistic landscape from the post-war era until the present day.

Admire creations linked to the new languages of contemporary art, from the Arte Povera movement to conceptual art, from minimal art to visual poetry, among which we find pieces by Umberto Buscioni, Daniel Spoerri, Alberto Garutti and Jannis Kounellis.

The photographic portraits of artists donated by Aurelio Amendola are remarkable: some such as Barni, Buscioni, Fabbri, Parmiggiani and Ruffi have been selected and exhibited for direct dialogue with pieces belonging to the very artists portrayed in the photographs, while the others (Burri, Castellani, De Chirico, Kounellis, Marini, Warhol) boasts a first floor room in the 18th-century establishment entirely dedicated to them.

The collection also includes the powerless “Shadow Sculpture” by Claudio Parmiggiani and pieces by Fernando Melani, with an in-depth look into the studio-house where the Pistoiese artist lived and worked for many years.

At the rear of the building, the outdoor space houses a contemporary “signature garden,” which was recently exalted by SOUND LIFE, a work of sound art.

Accessibility information: musei.comune.pistoia