Accademia Carrara Bergamo

See highlights of collection inside this magnificent palace

English-speaking visitors and students are being offered a unique opportunity to explore Bergamo’s prestigious Accademia Carrara, accompanied by an expert guide speaking in their own language.

Saturday Morning Visits at the premiere art galley in Bergamo will reveal the highlights in the collection from now until October this year (2019).

Tours start from the ticket office in the lobby of the gallery at 11 am each Saturday. The cost is six euros in addition to the normal ticket price and booking is not necessary.

Accademia Carrara is housed in 18th century palace

This is an opportunity to find out more about Pisanello. Mantegna, Bellini, Botticelli, Raffaele, Lotto and Moroni, to name just a few of the great artists whose works are in the Carrara’s collection.

The English-speaking guides promise to show visitors the art treasures ‘at the heart of the museum’s collection’ during a 90-minute taster tour. 

One of the biggest jewels in Bergamo’s crown, the prestigious art gallery Accademia Carrara is housed in a magnificent palace just outside the Città Alta, built in the 18th century to house one of the richest private collections of art in Italy.

It is the only Italian museum to be entirely stocked with donations and bequests from private collectors. Visitors can now view a broad-ranging collection of works by the masters of the Venetian, Lombard and Tuscan renaissances as well as great artists who came later.

The Accademia Carrara was established in 1794 as a combined Pinacoteca and School of Painting on the initiative of Bergamo aristocrat Count Giacomo Carrara. In addition to his collection of paintings he left his entire estate to the Accademia to secure its future.

The number and quality of the works in the Accademia has increased over the years thanks to the many donations and bequests from private collectors.

From being a museum dedicated to Renaissance painting, the Accademia has grown into an art gallery that also provides a broad representation of pictorial genres from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Accademia Carrara is in Piazza Giacomo Carrara, a short walk from Porta Sant’Agostino. For more information visit www.lacarrara.it.

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