This is a singular building and its name is inspired by the special style of the Citadel of Medieval and the result of the architectonic changes wrought at the end of the 18th Century and attributed to Antonio Asprucci. The Fortezzuola, in antique 16th Century Gallinaro, already mentioned in Jacopo Manilli’s guide (1650), was used in the 18th Century as a site for administrative offices. After the Villa was bought by the Comune and later opened to the public at the beginning of the 19th Century. It still housed offices and storerooms until 1919 when it was abandoned following damage caused by fire.
In 1937, the building was offered to the sculptor Pietro Canonica (Moncalieri 1869 – Rome 1959), who repaired and decorated it at his own expense, promising to donate his works to the city, the first contribution to the present Museum. He became an assistant to Luca Gerosa when he was only ten and at eleven he entered the Academia Albertina di Torino, student of Enrico Gamba and Odoardo Tabacchi. This sculptor started a long and prestigious artistic career at an early age.
He participated in important national and international exhibitions in Turin, Milan, Paris, Venice, London, Berlin, Monaco, Dresden, Rome, Brussels and St. Petersburg where he received official recognition. He was also well received by high-born Italian and foreign aristocracy. He modelled material very well and worked with passion at commemorative works, such as small portraits. He was also an accomplished musician and composed Miranda, La Sposa del Corinto, Enrico di Mirval, Medea, Impressioni, Sacra Terra.
The Museo Canonica, inaugurated in 1961, houses studies, sketches, models, originals and copies. The exhibition offers a full view of the artist’s activities as well as a comprehensive explanation of the techniques of sculpture. The first floor also contains the study with the sketch of the monument to Giovanni Paisiello, used for his ultimate work, created in Taranto just before he died.
The apartment on the first floor was opened to the public in 1988, after the death of his wife, Maria Assunta Riggio. Precious interior decorations, works of art, an interesting collection of paintings in particular belonging to the 18th Century Piedmontese and the main part consisting of works of Enrico Gamba, Giovan Battista Quadrone, Antonio Fontanesi, Vittorio Cavalleri disclosing the private world of Pietro Canonica. The Fortezzuola, an unusual architectural construction in the Villa Borghese park, is an important example of a house-museum, a homogeneous collection of works and at the same time, a harbour for sentiments, memories and emotions.
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 | | | II Municipio
Viale Pietro Canonica, 2
00197 Roma
Tel. 06 8842279
Fax 06 8845702
HOURS:
From Monday to Sunday 9a.m. to 7p.m.
Holidays 9a.m. to 1.30p.m.
Closed on Monday: the 1st of January, the 1st of May and the 25th of December. |  |
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