Baroque palace & art museum · Vicenza, Veneto

Gallerie d'Italia — Palazzo Leoni Montanari

Palazzo Leoni Montanari is a late-Baroque palace in the historic centre of Vicenza, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Today it houses the Gallerie d'Italia museum venue, with exhibition rooms and permanent art collections owned by the bank Intesa Sanpaolo. The richly decorated interiors make it one of the most distinctive museum settings in the city.

At a glance

Type: Late-Baroque palace and art museum
Period: Baroque era
Style: Late Baroque
Location: Contra’ Santa Corona 25, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy

Overview

The Palazzo Leoni Montanari is a late-Baroque palace in central Vicenza. It now houses exhibition rooms, meeting spaces and art collections owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, presented under the Gallerie d'Italia brand. The venue combines historic architecture with curated displays of art.

History

The palace was built as a noble residence during the Baroque era in Vicenza, a city celebrated for its Renaissance and later architectural heritage. Over time the building passed into institutional ownership and was adapted as a cultural venue. It is today part of the Gallerie d'Italia network of museum sites run by Intesa Sanpaolo.

What you see

Visitors encounter ornate late-Baroque interiors with decorated rooms used as exhibition galleries. The spaces host permanent collections and temporary exhibitions of paintings and other works of art. The architecture itself, with its decorative detailing, is part of the visitor experience.

Cultural significance

As one of the Gallerie d'Italia venues, the palace contributes to the public presentation of Italian art heritage in the Veneto. It links Vicenza's architectural legacy with an accessible museum offering.

Practical information

Address: Contra’ Santa Corona 25, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. For opening hours, tickets and current exhibitions, check the official website.

Getting there

The palace is in the historic centre of Vicenza, within walking distance of the railway station and the main monuments. Vicenza is served by trains on the Milan–Venice line, and the centre is best explored on foot.

Sources & resources

Find it on the map

Google Maps See the location on a full map → Street View Walk around the place virtually → OpenStreetMap Free community cartography →

Historical events at this place (1)

2021 Collezione di icone russe di Intesa Sanpaolo

Palazzo Leoni Montanari is a Baroque building located in Vicenza and dating back to 1678.



Inside it houses an important museum (known as the Gallerie d&#39;Italia - Palazzo Leoni Montanari) in which some masterpieces of Venetian painting of the eighteenth century and a collection of ancient Russian icons are collected.



The palace was born from the need of the Leoni Montanari family to promote themselves socially within the Vicenza nobility. During the second half of the seventeenth century the family had in fact earned a solid position in the production and trade of fabrics and the construction of the building served as a testimony to its ambitions of social emancipation.



The palace was built where the Montanari Lions already owned their own buildings, welcoming inside the house rooms for the spinning of silk. This choice had repercussions on the style of the fa&ccedil;ade and the interiors, which therefore broke away from the Renaissance classicism of Andrea Palladio.



The construction was completed in two distinct phases and ended only in the second half of the eighteenth century. The project was probably signed by the Lombard architect Giuseppe Marchi and by the Borrella building company.



Notable artists were called to work such as the painters Giuseppe Alberti and Ludovico Dorigny, the sculptor Angelo Molinari and the family of Andrea Paracca, renowned plasterers of Valsolda. The decorations of 1692 had Greek-Roman mythology as their theme and were made with frescoes by Paolo Pagani.



In 1808 the palace was inherited by Count Girolamo Egidio Velo on the death of his grandmother Laura Conti Montanari. He made important and prestigious archaeological discoveries, he was a passionate collector of Greek and Roman antiquities. The count wanted to enrich the decoration of the noble floor of the building with stuccos and frescoes in the neoclassical style, partially distorting the baroque structure.



After a few further changes of ownership, in 1908 the prestigious town residence became the property of Banca Cattolica Vicentina, which in 1930 became Banca Cattolica del Veneto. The bank made Palazzo Leoni Montanari its registered office, establishing the general management there. Fortunately, the building was spared from the violent bombings that hit this area of ??the city during the Second World War.



In January 1990, Banco Ambrosiano Veneto took over and chose to free the building from the functions of representation and to make it the seat of the only activities related to the cultural policy of the institute. During the nineties Palazzo Leoni Montanari was the seat of numerous cultural initiatives such as exhibitions, conferences and concerts.



The property is now owned by the Intesa Sanpaolo bank which has included it within the Gallerie d&#39;Italia circuit.

https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/galleries-of-italy-leoni-montanari-palace-l4324/

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Galleries of Italy – Leoni Montanari Palace