The Building
The San Domenico complex consists of the church, a first cloister adjacent to it, completely enclosed, and a second cloister, open on one side.
The original church (13th century) was smaller than the existing one; the subsequent Renaissance extension phase extended the hall with the progressive advancement of the façade and the addition of chapels, until the current situation, which reflects the renovation completed in 1704. During the Napoleonic period, the church was confiscated for military purposes and then definitively acquired by the State in 1866-67. From that moment on, the monumental complex experienced an inexorable phase of degradation that was only halted in the 1990s with the beginning of its full recovery and its use as a civic museum and as a venue for major exhibitions.
The Collections
Among the cloisters and long corridors of the Museum are masterpieces such as the dazzling and splendid Ebe, a supreme work by Canova, the Fiasca con fiori, one of the most significant still lifes of 17th-century Italian art, the extraordinary Dama dei gelsomini by Lorenzo di Credi, an emblematic portrait of the Italian Renaissance, a fundamental nucleus of great masterpieces by Marco Palmezzano, among which the sublime Annunciazione stands out, and works by Beato Angelico, Rossellino and Cagnacci.
The Museum also exhibits the prestigious Pedriali Collection, which boasts, alongside a number of Flemish painters, including Ferdinand De Braekeleer and Eugene Verboeckhoven, the large canvas Buoi al carro by Giovanni Fattori, Christ and the Adulteress by Alessandro Magnasco, the Natura morta di frutta by Gaetano Luciani and two still lifes by Giovanni Crivelli.