Yellow pages Museums

Rome's Palazzo Merulana art museum

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

08 Oct, 2018

Palazzo Merulana houses Cerasi collection of 20th-century Italian art.

Palazzo Merulana, a museum hosting the important early 20th-century art collection of the Cerasi Foundation, is located beside the Viale Manzoni corner of Via Merulana in Rome's Esquilino district.

The city-owned building on Via Merulana 121 – once the home of Rome's health offices – underwent a €5 million three-year restoration after lying in a state of abandonment for decades, opening in 2018.

The collection of Claudio and Elena Cerasi comprises 90 works, much of it created between the two world wars, including paintings from the Scuola Romana movement.

The bulk of the collection is on the first floor whose magnificent central salone is filled with works by artists such as Balla, Cambellotti, de Chirico, Donghi, Capagrossi, Casorati, Pirandello and Severini.

The second floor has space for exhibitions, as well as containing works by Boetti, Mafai, Raphaël and Schifano, while the top floor is reserved for cultural events.

This openness to collaboration with Rome's artistic scene, particularly with cultural associations in the multi-ethnic Esquilino area, is a central focus of the museum which in addition to visual art is a hub for theatre, cinema and music.

The spacious ground floor of the palazzo houses a collection of sculpture and can be visited for free, with an art bookshop and outdoor terrace for coffee.

The museum is a ten-minute walk from the Colosseum and is served well by buses, tram and the Metro A line at Manzoni.

Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, Palazzo Merulana is open Wednesday to Sunday from midday until 20.00 (last entry 19.oo). The €10 ticket price includes access to temporary exhibitions, for details see website.