VERONA: MODERN ART GALLERY PALAZZO FORTI

Palazzo Forti hosts Verona Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery. The building itself has old origins with indissoluble ties to Verona history. In the thirteenth century it was the residence of Ezzelino da Romano, the tyrant who ruled over the Veneto region creating a sort of kingdom of ghibellins, the party which supported the political power of the emperor, opposed to the pope. After Ezzelino's death, the building underwent a series of restorations and alterations by the Emilei family who in the meantime had became the owner of the palace. They made it into a residential building with big halls, libraries, courtyards, services through a series of works in fifteenth and sixteenth century. The last intervention by architect Ignazio Pellegrini was in the eighteenth century and gave the building the look it still has nowadays. The palace became one of Verona most important cultural, political, and artistic centre. Napoleon too during the French occupation of Veneto slept in one of Palazzo Emilei room. In 1854 the building was bought by Israele Forti, and in 1937 his heir Achille Forti left the palace to the city of Verona which, in complying with his wishes, made it a modern art museum.

After the Second World War, Palazzo Forti was opened to the public again only in 1982 when, under the supervision of Giorgio Cortenova, Palazzo Forti started organizing some important contemporary art exhibitions. Since 2006 Palazzo Forti was definitely opened to the public with a permanent exhibition displaying its rich collection which was created through the years with donations and acquisitions of important nineteenth and twentieth century artists. In particular there are some works by important veronese artist or who are somehow linked to the town such as Angelo Dall'Oca Bianca, Guido Trentini, Felice Casorati, Francesco Hayez. The Palazzo Forti Gallery has now become a prestigious exhibition centre.

(historical source)

The show that was running during our visit were works from the artist Marc Chagall. Not the most impressive display that I have seen of his work, and the permanent collection was not open to be viewed by the public.