Museo Diocesano

The museum is located in a part of the bishop's palace, a building with roots dating back to the 12th century that preserves many testimonies of its rich past.

The palace has been modified several times over the centuries, with phases of structural expansion, up to the post-World War II restoration, which nonetheless preserved the rooms and decorations of previous centuries.

The museum route includes around 300 works of sacred art spanning from the 10th to the 20th century: large altarpieces, sacred furnishings, and valuable furniture that tell the story of the Faenza diocese.

The visit begins with the Loggia Monterenzi, a 17th-century corridor connecting the palace to the cathedral, where there is a limestone baptismal font from 1476, attributed to the workshop of the da Maiano family and closely connected to the cathedral.

Not to be missed is the Frescoes Room, where visitors can admire fragments of 13th-century paintings from the Emilia-Venetian tradition and 14th-century Rimini school frescoes depicting apocalyptic themes that were widespread at the time.

The Four Saints, The Triumph of Death, The Meeting of the Three Living and the Three Dead, and The Last Judgment dated 1330-1340 immerse us in the Giottesque culture of Romagna, which spread from Rimini throughout the region. This figurative innovation process also involved Faenza, fully integrating it into the creative ferment of the era.

The visit continues with the Throne Room and the Apartment of Cardinal Marcello Durazzo, which house numerous altarpieces created between the 16th and 18th centuries.

Among the museum's most important works are the gilded pieces by the Master of San Pier Damiano, paintings by Carlo Cignani, Cristoforo Savolini, Ercole Graziani the Younger, Cristoforo Unterperger, the evocative Nativity by Zattaglia from 1497, a Madonna with Child from the 15th-century Florentine school, and a plaque depicting Saint Apollinaris dated 1582.

The Diocesan Museum is connected to the church of Santa Maria dell'Angelo, an exhibition space hosting major cultural events and exhibitions.

Santa Maria dell'Angelo is an essential cultural destination in Faenza, where exhibitions always stand out for their ability to provoke deep reflection on the complexities of the contemporary world.