Villa Guinigi National Museum
The National Museum of Villa Guinigi is located in the eastern part of the city, in the imposing late Gothic villa built by the Lord of Lucca Paolo Guinigi starting in 1413. It was originally a summer residence outside the 13th-century city walls, later included within the Renaissance walls.
Address: Via della Quarquonia, 40 Lucca
phone: 0583 496033
E-MAIL: drm-tos.museilucchesi@beniculturali.it
website: luccamuseinazionali.it
Accessibility: The Museum is located inside a building with monumental protection.
The upper floors are partially accessible to people with mobility disabilities, with the assistance of staff, by means of an elevator and several ramps.
timetables:
Tuesday to Saturday: 12:00 pm - 7:30 pm (last admission 6:00 pm).
First and third Sunday of the month from 9:00 to 19:30
input: An entrance fee is required. Free on the first Sunday of the month.
The National Museum of Villa Guinigi adheres to Lucca VisitCard the cumulative ticket that allows access to the main places of cultural interest and attractions of the city
Villa Guinigi is the museum of the city and its territory, containing interesting collections of works of art produced for Lucca by local and foreign artists active in the city for ecclesiastical and secular commissions.
In the rooms of the villa the history of the city is retraced, starting from the 8th century BC with the archaeological finds of ancient civilizations (the Etruscans, the Apuan Ligurians and the Romans), through all the eras, from the early Middle Ages to the Romanesque, from the Gothic to the Renaissance, up to the Counter-Reformation and Neoclassicism.
Among the most valuable and prestigious works of the museum are the artefacts of Lombard goldsmith art from the 8th century, coming from the excavations conducted in the area of church of Santa Giulia (fragments of belt decoration, a cross-shaped pendant, fine shield trimmings).
The valuable one Crucifix by Berlinghiero Berlinghieri (13th century tempera on panel) and various works by the the most important Tuscan sculptor of the Renaissance outside of Florence, Matteo Civitali from Lucca, among which the intense and expressive depictions of the Madonna and Child in marble and the wooden statue of the Vir dolorum.
From the early sixteenth century are the two altarpieces by the Dominican friar and Florentine painter Fra' Bartolomeo, the Our Lady of Mercy el 'Eternal with Saint Catherine and Saint Mary Magdalene.
The interesting Allegory of Lucca's Liberty by the local painter Paolo Guidotti (1611), the huge canvas Feast of Saint Gregory the Great of the greatest exponent of "Caravaggesque" painting in Lucca Pietro Paolini, theEcstasy of Saint Catherine and Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew by Pompeo Batoni, an important Italian painter of the second half of the 18th century.