Description
The origin of the civic museum of Alessandria dates to 1854, the year in which the notary public Antonio Maria Viecha from Alessandria donated his collection of paintings, sketches and drawings by the painter Giovanni Migliara to the city.
The rooms of Palazzo Cuttica, an 18th century building located in the city centre, are home to the Civic Museum Routes which showcase a selection of works from the civic collections.
The exhibition features the archaeological collection of Cesare Di Negro Carpani, collector and 19th century scholar. Composed by more than 1000 artifacts, where the epigraphic material of an early-Christian cemetery is on display alongside elements from funerary items of Ligurian tombs and other elements from housing contexts, the collection is not only an important collection, but also an example of 19th century private collecting.
One room is dedicated to the pictorial era of the 16th and 17th centuries: there are important examples of sacred paintings from Piedmont, Lombardy and Northern Italy; the Tapestry Room exhibits two exquisite Flemish tapestries of the late 17th century; the Napoleonic room is dedicated to the figure of the famous commander and to the battle of Marengo, fought close to the city of Alessandria in
June 1800. The rooms of the ancient chorales and vestments showcase the sacred vestments and precious illuminated chorales dedicated to the Dominican saint Pio V, commissioned by the same Pope Ghislieri, the only pope from Piedmont.
The Room of Old and Modern Prints, which features ancient and Napoleonic collections, also showcases contemporary works donated by many important
artists.