2nd Weekend of the Lombardy 800th Century Network: the annual celebration of the association

2nd Weekend of the Lombardy 800th Century Network: the annual celebration of the association.

The Lombardy 800th century network brings together institutions that recognize their common identity in the artistic and cultural heritage of early nineteenth century in Lombardy testifying with their collections the richness, multiplicity and complexity of that era. Founded in 2004, the Network was reconstituted in 2019 thanks to the support of the Lombardy Region with the aim of enhancing and promoting places and collections linked, in various capacities, to nineteenth-century culture.

The Lombardy 800th century network intends to develop study, research and valorization projects engaging in the dissemination of its cultural message with the aim of offering and guaranteeing a better proposal through integrated tools for guiding the territory, with an attractive perspective aimed at consolidate existing audiences and involve others.

2023 saw the Lombardy 800th century network grow: the participating entities have now reached fourteen thanks to the entry of the “Lionessa d'Italia” Museum of the Risorgimento in Brescia and the aim is to open to new institutes to bring together an increasingly widespread and rich cultural offering, responding to different needs and offering users new, effective and engaging ways to better appreciate the wealth of the nineteenth century also through the exploitation of the channels at its disposal: the site, www.rete800lombardo.net; the section of the portal dedicated to teaching, www.rete800lombardo-edu.net; the social pages of Facebook and Instagram; and active collaboration with Museum Subscription Association.

2nd Weekend of the 800th century Lombardy Network: our great widespread celebration is renewed

Also for 2023 the Lombardy 800th century network is proposing a large widespread celebration, a regional program of events for a wide audience, diversified by age groups and interests, but always attracted by nineteenth-century culture.
The 2nd Weekend of the 800th century Lombardy Network will be held next September 23rd and 24th confirming the commitment of the participating museums to actively collaborate to create ever new opportunities to promote their heritage.

The planned schedule, already available on the Network website in the "Events and News" section (https://www.rete800lombardo.net/eventi/2-week-end-della-rete-dell800-lombardo/) includes more than 20 activities that allow the public to experience museums through guided tours, dawn concerts, workshops and even a night spent among the rooms of a museum.

“Given the success of the 1st Network Weekend, we enthusiastically reconfirmed the event for 2023 as well. The prospect of the two days of celebration allows us to tell the liveliness of our network and thus share the thousand facets of an artistic story unique, such as the nineteenth-century one, showing how the Internet is an important tool for promoting the territory and the artistic and cultural heritage. Furthermore, the Network is continuing its objective of welcoming new museums every year: in 2022 the entry of the GAM – Gallery of Modern Art in Milano; in 2023, we officially announce it today, the “Lionessa d'Italia” Risorgimento Museum in Brescia has also become part of it. A growing group capable of always describing the nineteenth century, its heritage and its culture in the best possible way" explains Stefano Karadjov, Director of the Brescia Museums Foundation, leading body of the Network.

The activities included in the schedule presented here are: spread over two days and calibrated to be limited in duration and encourage the circulation of the public between the various institutes during the weekend, also in different cities or provinces of the Region. Cremona and, in particular, the Ala Ponzone Museum this year it welcomes the presentation of the two days of celebration.

“We are pleased today to host the presentation of the rich program of initiatives of the 2nd Weekend of the 800th century Lombardy Network in Cremona in the rooms of the Ala Ponzone Museum, recalling how among the participating museums there is also another excellence of our territory: the Diotti Museum of Casalmaggiore” teacher Luca Burgazzi, Councilor for Culture, Youth and Legality Policies of the Municipality of Cremona.

“This year too the program of activities is full of events and opportunities to learn about the nineteenth century from new points of view. The Ala Ponzone Museum will bring attention to two of its protagonists: Giovanni Carnovali, known as il Piccio, delving into his portraiture for the Cremonese aristocracy, and Felice Giuseppe Vertua, around whose artistic practices a useful laboratory was created to explain the fixé technique in nineteenth-century landscape painting” he exposes Mario Marubbi, Director of the Ala Ponzone Museum.

The Ala Ponzone Museum in Cremona offers a guided tour of the portraiture of Giovanni Carnovali, known as Piccio, and a workshop for families with children and teenagers associated with the landscape views of Felice Giuseppe Vertua; at the Diotti Museum in Casalmaggiore (CR) a small bibliographic exhibition is offered - accompanied by in-depth information sheets, some paintings and period prints - entitled "Jansenism in Casalmaggiore" (guided tour).
The guided tour proposed by the Carrara Academy of Bergamo leads adults and teachers to discover characters, works of art and events of the nineteenth century as well as being a small preview of the exhibition "My light is all in you. History and Melodrama Painting” (29.09.2023-14.01.2024). The Tadini Academy of Lovere (BG) offers a workshop with a guided tour of the exhibition “Cesare Tallone. Company portraits” (01.07.2023- 01.10.2023) with particular attention to the figure of the Loverese patriot Giovanni Battista Zitti and his family, a proposal for everyone, where children are invited to create their own family tree with recycled materials (guided tour and laboratory).

The wonderful garden of Villa Carlotta in Tremezzina (CO) welcomes visitors with two activities: the first (guided tour), for an adult audience, entitled “Memoirs of a Plant Collector” illustrates the passion for nature of Duke George II, husband of Princess Charlotte, as well as introducing the contents of the exhibition "The Wonders of the Garden”, opening soon (23.09.2023-10.12.2023); the second gives shape to a laboratory for the little ones invited to take on the role of collectors of rare plants.

In the Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery in Brescia, with the workshop for adults “Talking Cards”, some aspects of the art historian's work are presented by interrogating sources, comparing them and extracting important information from them; but the magic lights up on Saturday evening and the event "A masked ball. A new proposal for Night at the Museum!” when families with children will have the opportunity to sleep in the museum rooms (night at the museum)! The Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery is also open to anyone who wants to experience the experience of copying from life in the laboratory “You learn by copying!”.

The “Lionessa d'Italia” Risorgimento Museum in Brescia celebrates its entry into the Lombardy 800th century network with the guided tour for adults”Sisters of Italy. The revolution is woman" to discover the stories of women of all social classes who fought on the front line for Italy's independence. In the rooms of Palazzo Tosio - University of Brescia the public is offered (guided tour) the opportunity to appreciate some paintings by Giovanni Renica which, for the occasion, accompany the exhibition “Luigi Basiletti and the Ancient” (04.04.2023-03.12.2023). In Montichiari (BS) in the splendid setting of Bonoris Castle, the birth of Sunday is celebrated with a concert entitled “The sound of dawn. Music at the first light of day”. The great variety of portraits and self-portraits, official, serious, romantic, mysterious, funny, which animates the nineteenth-century picture gallery of the Civic Museums of Pavia is presented on the occasion of the visit for families and children entitled "Portraits in the mirror" (guided tour and laboratory); an offer that is completed with the conference “The Portrait of Giacomo Trecourt by Federico Faruffini”, latest acquisition of the Civic Museums of Pavia presented by Anna Finocchi.

The Poldi Pezzoli Museum of Milano offers a workshop, in two appointments – one for teachers the other for adults – entitled “From word to image” where the public is invited to an exercise of identification, to experience the power of the word in creating images and, at the same time, understand the power of images to inspire stories, thoughts and poems; the Poldi Pezzoli Museum also offers a guided tour on the theme of "The displays of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum: from the nineteenth century to today”. The GAM – Modern Art Gallery of Milano opens the gates and leads to the discovery of its precious green in the view "The secret garden” designed for families with children (guided tour); amazes his adult audience with an insight into the work of Giovanni Pelizza da Volpedo (guided tour), the “Fourth Estate that work I would exhibit... to Milano"; show the splendor of its rooms with the family visit “The Villa of Wonders" (guided tour); and brings children closer to works of art among paintings, perfumes, sounds in search of details and particulars thanks to the laboratory "Look and (not) touch” (guided tour and workshop).

With the 2nd Weekend of the Lombardy 800th Century Network, the lively and fruitful collaboration with Museum Subscription Association.

“This year too we are very happy to collaborate with the Lombardy 800 Network on the occasion of the second edition of its widespread celebration and thus strengthen, once again, the shared commitment to offer the public more and more opportunities to learn about and appreciate the culture and the panorama Lombard art. A few months ago, in close cooperation with the Network, we concluded the project “Art with those who are part of it”, today we celebrate the 2nd Weekend of the Network by programming opportunities for future shared projects" explains Simona Ricci, Director of the Museum Subscription Association.

A dedicated page has been created on the web portal of the 800th century Lombardy Network in the "Events and News" section https://www.rete800lombardo.net/eventi/2-week-end-della-rete-dell800-lombardo/ which contains all the information for booking activities relating to the activities promoted over the weekend. A QR Code placed on all illustrative documentation, guides users towards the dedicated page of the site providing all the data necessary to identify an offer suited to your needs.

Presentation of the institutions of the 800th century Lombardy network: 

Carrara Academy, Bergamo
Carrara Academy born in the 1796 on the initiative of the count Giacomo Carrara as a unique complex of Painting School and Art Gallery, which brought together his extraordinary collection of paintings. Thanks to a series of authoritative directors, from Giuseppe Diotti a Cesare Tallone, the Carrara School of Painting established itself as an important center of artistic education in the nineteenth century. Over the course of over two hundred years the collection has been enriched thanks to bequests from numerous donors, including absolute masterpieces of History of Art from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, with Pisanello, Mantegna, Bellini, Botticelli, Raphael, Lotto, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Hayez and Pellizza da Volpedo. The heritage of nineteenth-century works of art that the institution preserves is intrinsically linked to its history and well represents the many events and trends of art in Bergamo in the nineteenth century. From January 2023 Accademia Carrara has reopened to the public with the permanent collection rethought in its exhibition itinerary, set up in the 16 rooms on the second floor of the building, and with the first floor entirely dedicated to large temporary exhibitions and the valorisation of non-exhibited heritage.

Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milano
The Brera Academy born in the 1776; with the arrival of the French in 1798 the new public education plan was launched which confirmed the already existing institutes, giving the Academy a revolutionary centrality also thanks to the actions of the secretary Giuseppe Bossi. The collections were formed within the three fundamental activities of the Academy: educational, exhibition, documentation and protection. Currently the Academy is a public university in the sector ofHigher artistic and musical education. His collections include: Picture Gallery, Plaster Cast Gallery, Cabinet of Drawings and Prints, Photo Library, Library and Historical Archive.

Tadini Onlus Academy of Fine Arts, Lovere BG
Count Luigi Tadini (1745-1829) was responsible for the decision to build a palace on the shores of Lake Iseo to exhibit to the public his art collections formed between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the center of the garden the chapel is built, built to house the Tadini Stele, carved between 1819 and 1821 by Antonio Canova. the second floor houses the Museum of the 19th century: the rooms preserve historical and artistic documents in addition to the three canvases donated by Francesco Hayez to his grandchildren Enrico and Carlotta Martinolli Banzolini, including the extraordinary Ecce Homo, among the artist's latest works.

University of Brescia, Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts Onlus, Palazzo Tosio, Brescia
Palazzo Tosio, today home to the University of Brescia, Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, is a masterly example of neoclassical architecture thanks to the interventions of Luigi Basiletti e Rodolfo Vantini. There are many artists represented and since 2018, thanks to the Brescia Musei Foundation, most of the works of art from the neoclassical and romantic ages collected by the count have been added Paolo Tosio (1775-1842). In the rooms on the main floor there are paintings by Basiletti, Bisi, Borsato, Canella, D'Azeglio, Diotti, Ferrari, Granet, Migliara, Palagi, Podesti, Trecourt, Voogd, and sculptures by Bartolini, Baruzzi, Gandolfi, Marchesi, Monti and Pampaloni.

Bonoris Castle, Montichiari BS
Built at the behest of Count Gaetano Bonoris (1861-1923) on pre-existing medieval ruins, Bonoris Castle is one of the architectural examples of Neo-Gothic style most important in Lombardy. The client, a wealthy banker, wanted to pay homage to the Savoy court by taking inspiration from the best-known examples of castle architecture in Piedmont and the Aosta Valley. The castle, surrounded by a romantic park, stands on the hill of San Pancrazio and is characterized by the presence of towers and crenellated walls and attention to defensive details. Inside, the richness of the materials, the fresco decorations and the furnishings created by the best artists and craftsmen of the time stand out.

GAM – Modern Art Gallery of Milano
The Gallery of Modern Art of Milano it was established in 1903 and preserves the largest collection of nineteenth-century works in Lombardy. Initially set up at Sforza Castle of Milano, from 1921 It has its headquarters in the eighteenth century Villa Reale in via Palestro, in what was the count's residence Ludovico Barabino of Belgiojosor designed for him by Leopold Pollack. The rooms on the ground floor retain part of the original stucco decorations while on the first floor there are some of the most sumptuous rooms of the complex, the result of interventions in the Napoleonic era such as the Ballroom and the Parnassus Hall. GAM today maintains a heritage of approximately 3.500 works, partly on display and partly in storage, sculptures that arrived in the museum thanks to important donations and bequests that took place throughout the twentieth century.

Ala Ponzone Civic Museum, Cremona
The original nucleus of the Art Gallery and the Collections of the Civic Museum of Cremona it is due to the bequest of the Marquis Giuseppe Sigismondo Ala Ponzone (1761-1842); once the Municipality of Cremona took over as heir to the Marquis' assets, the inauguration of the exhibition rooms took place in Palazzo Ala Ponzone in 1888. In 1928 the art gallery and the artistic collections were transferred to the current location Affaitati Palace. The nineteenth-century collection develops starting from Room 10 where some works by Giuseppe Diotti and Giuseppe Molteni are housed. Room 11 also illustrates the Cremonese activity of Giovanni Carnovali and the production of engraver's Giovanni Beltrami. Room 16 is dedicated to the second half of the XNUMXth century.

Civic Museums of Pavia
The Civic Museums of Pavia – hosted from the middle of the last century into the fourteenth century Visconteo Castle – originate from the Marquis's bequest Luigi Malaspina of Sannazzaro (1754-1835). The museums today include heterogeneous collections by type and chronology, divided into different sections: the second floor is entirely dedicated to nineteenth-century collections: the Risorgimento Museum with the room dedicated to World War I, the plaster cast gallery , Section of Modern Sculpture; The Nineteenth century picture gallery, the room of Civic School of Painting, Morone Collection. The Picture Gallery presents a chronological journey from Neoclassicism to Symbolism with works by Francesco Hayez and Giuseppe Molteni. Museum of the Risorgimento – Leonessa d'Italia, Brescia The result of long planning work, the new exhibition itinerary, inaugurated in 2023 in the rooms of the Castle of Brescia, tells the story of the Risorgimento as a phenomenon of European caliber and pressing relevance. Paintings, sculptures, relics and "relics" are read and returned as a material manifestation of the long and complex history which culminated inItalian unity. The rich digital collection accompanies and integrates a narrative that reaches the present day, involving the visitor in the events that they saw Brescia at the center of the Risorgimento, making it famous throughout the world as Lioness of Italy.

Diotti Museum, Casalmaggiore CR
The Diotti Museum was born in 2007; the collection focuses above all on the figure of the neoclassical painter Giuseppe Diotti (1779-1846) who, after thirty years of teaching atCarrara Academy of Bergamo, lived in this building in the last years of his life. The current museum itinerary, while attentive to the original uses of the various environments, is oordered chronologically, starting from the eighteenth-century premises, passing through Diotti's training and his working method up to the developments of his school, especially in the field of portraiture. For the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century the itinerary also includes artists linked to Scapigliatura and Divisionism.

Lechi Museum, Montichiari BS
The museum displays the historic picture gallery of accounts Luigi and Piero Lechi, descendants of a family of Napoleonic generals and enlightened collectors who in May 2005 decided to donate their collections to the Municipality of Montichiari. The fourteen rooms of the exhibition itinerary, rich in descriptive texts, focus on paintings from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century with masterpieces of Moretto, Procaccini, Gaulli, Pittoni, Magnasco, Basiletti and a group of important works by Giacomo Ceruti known as Pitocchetto. During the 19th century, the Lechi collection inherited the artistic collections of ancient families of the Brescian aristocracy, such as the Fenaroli, the Avogadro, the Maffei Erizzo, the Valotti and the Polini.

Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milano
The Poldi Pezzoli Museum, a splendid example of a house museum, it opened in 1881, two years after the death of its founder Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli (1822-1879). The rooms of the private apartment were decorated by the masters of the Brera Academy following the taste of historism. Thus was born Poldi Pezzoli Artistic Foundation, one of the most extraordinary collections of Italian art from the 1800th to the 1859th century. The collection also includes a rich library, inherited from ancestors, works from the collection of his mother Rosa Trivulzio (XNUMX-XNUMX), a great collector of romantic sculpture, owner, among other things, of the famous Trust in God di Lorenzo Bartolini, as well as works acquired subsequently, including the collection of drawings and prints by Riccardo Lampugnani.

Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia – LEAD BODY
The Tosio Martinengo Art Gallery, with its important collection of works, it reopened in 2018 after a long restoration, presenting a new exhibition itinerary recently implemented and renovated. The intention is to guide the visitor from the late Gothic to the early nineteenth century through the works of Angelica Kauffmann, Andrea Appiani, Berthel Thorvaldsen, Antonio Canova and Francesco Hayez. Many of these extraordinary and well-known masterpieces come from the collection of Paolo Tosio. There is also the important presence of numerous objets d'art from the collection of Camillo Brozzoni, specialized in decorative arts and open to the most advanced trends of European collecting of the time.

Villa Carlotta, Tremezzina CO
Built at the end of the seventeenth century as a place of delight for the Marquises Clerici, in 1801 the Villa was purchased by Giovanni Battista Sommariva, Napoleon's trusted man a Milano who renovated the interiors according to the neoclassical taste, hosting masterpieces by Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen and Francesco Hayez. In 1843 the Villa was sold with his art collection at Princess Marianne of Orange-Nassau and then to her daughter Carlotta. A place of rest and holiday resort until the outbreak of the First World War, the building was enriched over the years with new decorations and furnishings, while the park was transformed into a real botanical garden. Since 1927 the villa, the collections and the park, which have become state property, have been entrusted to the management ofVilla Carlotta Institution.

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