Opened in 1989 in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Volpi, the Pinacoteca holds and displays paintings and sculptures across three floors, documenting the area’s art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
The museum occupies Palazzo Volpi, a 17th-century building in the centre of Como, and is part of the city’s Civic Museums network. The collection, formed through bequests, donations and acquisitions, traces the area’s art from religious buildings, through portraiture, landscape and genre painting, to the 20th-century movements linked to Futurism, Rationalism and design.
Collection
Highlights include the 16th-century series of “Uomini Illustri” (Illustrious Men) portraits, conceived by the Como historian Paolo Giovio — who also gives his name to the nearby Museo Archeologico — drawings by the Como-born Futurist architect Antonio Sant’Elia, and works by 20th-century Como abstract artists (Gruppo Como).
Practical information
- Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00-18:00 (last entry 17:30); closed Mondays, with scheduled exceptions (e.g. Easter Monday and the feast of Sant’Abbondio).
- Paid admission, tickets available on site or online (museicomo.vivaticket.it); residents of the Comune and Province of Como can get the CoMmUnity card for unlimited yearly access to several civic museum venues.
- Part of the Como Civic Museums network together with Tempio Voltiano, the Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio and the Museo storico Giuseppe Garibaldi, with combined-ticket options.
- Address: via Diaz 84, Como.