Carrara Academy of Fine Arts - Cybo Malaspina Palace

The Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara, known by the acronym ABAC or ABACARRARA, is a public university for the study of the visual arts based in Cybo Malaspina Palace.

According to the training offer of the MUR, the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara is included in the university sector in the sector of higher artistic, musical and dance education and issues 1st level (degree) and 2nd level (master's degree) academic diplomas .

The Carrara Academy of Fine Arts adheres to the Erasmus project.

The official foundation of the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts dates back to 26 September 1769: its patron was Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara (which in effect at that time was a principality), wife of Ercole Rinaldo d 'Este, Duke of Modena.

The sculptor Giovanni Antonio Cybei was called to direct the institute, who held the position of "Primary Director" of the school until his death in 1784.

Already a few years earlier, the foundations of an academy had been laid, dedicated to Saint Ceccardo, accepting the proposal of Giovanni Domenico Olivieri, a Carrara sculptor who had lived at the court of Philip V of Spain and collaborated in the foundation of the Madrid Academy: Maria Teresa had promulgated the statutes of an Academy in Carrara, which provided for the teaching of the three arts, painting, sculpture and architecture, already in 1757, but this project never had practical implementation.

In 1923, with the Gentile reform, the Academy became an artistic institution without university value with only the School of Sculpture; after the Second World War, starting from 1969, new schools began to be created: Painting, Scenography, Decoration, and New technologies of art enriched the educational offer of the Apuan institute, finally arriving at the return of university equipolation in 1999 with the creation of the AFAM sector.

Starting from the end of the 2010s, under the direction of Professor Luciano Massari which lasted from 2016 to 2023, the university activated the establishment of four new schools in January 2022: Comics and illustration; Cinema, photography and audiovisual; Art education; Design.

Furthermore, still under his management, the artistic university of Carrara went from 800 enrolled to 1150 in June 2023.

From the 2023/24 academic year, the new general director of the Academy will be Professor Silvia Papucci, former deputy director under Massari's management and teacher at the School of Graphics.

Map: Carrara Academy of Fine Arts - Cybo Malaspina Palace