A new museum for a new city

Inaugurated in 2018, the City Museum is a modern multipurpose structure that is part of the Bottini dell’Olio Cultural Center. Nestled in the charming district of Venezia Nuova, it is the ideal place to immerse yourself in the history, art, and culture of this fascinating port city.

Located on the ground floor of the ancient Bottini dell’Olio building, among the columns and vaults of an eighteenth-century oil depot commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo III, the museum features a large exhibition and museum area that hosts an annual program of temporary exhibitions, retrospectives, and anthologies of great importance. Leonardo da Vinci, Amedeo Modigliani, Banksy, Vittore Grubicy, Mario Puccini, and Piero Gilardi are just some of the most famous artists recently showcased.

When there are no exhibition paths, the rooms house the invaluable city collections. Etruscan and Roman archaeological finds, mosaics, sculptures, installations, medieval documents, frescoes, coins, and Risorgimento memorabilia are displayed, concluding with a section dedicated to the main Livornese artists, including Leonetto Cappiello and Pietro Mascagni, as well as spaces dedicated to cinema, cuisine, and satire.

The permanent collection of contemporary art.

If you love contemporary art, the permanent collection of the Museo della Città is a precious gem that we highly recommend not to miss. Placed within an engaging architectural path, which goes from the most modern structures of the museum to the late Baroque interiors of the deconsecrated Church of piazza del Luogo Pio, the collection houses various paintings, sculptures, and installations by some of the greatest Italian artists of the second half of the 20th century.

Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Giorgio Griffa, Mario Nigro, Tancredi Parmeggiani, Emilio Vedova, Mino Trafeli, Giuseppe Uncini, Gianfranco Baruchello, just to name a few, all the way to the Grande Rettile by Pino Pascali that unexpectedly emerges from the small nave of the Church of piazza del Luogo Pio, designed in 1713 by another great Tuscan artist, the architect Giovanni del Fantasia.

A great library to experience

On the second floor of the Bottini dell’Olio there is a modern Municipal Library. A large structure of over 2,000 square meters divided into two halls that houses 1,900 linear meters of library collections on open shelves with volumes published starting from 2000. The spacious area, furnished to provide maximum comfort, includes consultation and study areas with a total of 140 seats, internet stations, multimedia islands, a conference room, relaxation and conversation areas with newspapers and magazines at your disposal. Behind the reception area, there is also a second space for temporary exhibitions that has recently hosted photographic exhibitions, collective exhibitions, and personal exhibitions of emerging artists from Livorno.