Museo Civico Gipsoteca di Savigliano

MU.GI | CIVIC MUSEUM GIPSOTECA
The Museo Civico Gipsoteca of Savigliano is located in the 17th-century premises of the former convent of San Francesco. The entrance hall leads the visitor into the cloister's four-sided portico embellished by the lovely internal garden and 32 lunettes frescoed in the early 18th century and depicting the history of the order. From there one enters the ancient refectory, used for temporary exhibitions, frescoed in the second half of the 17th century by painter Giuseppe Nuvolone, a pupil of Sebastiano Taricco, with scenes from the Old and New Testament, including a Cena Domini. The splendid church of the convent building houses the Gipsoteca (gallery of plaster casts) of the sculptor Davide Calandra (Turin 1856 - Turin 1915).

THE DAVIDE CALANDRA GALLERY OF PLASTER CASTS
Entering the exhibition means discovering a great sculptor through an immersive experience, reliving the inner and technical work that was behind his activity as an artist, in close contact with his working tools and with the more than 100 clay sketches, casts and plaster models of works of great importance, famous in Italy and abroad such as the Frieze of Parliament in the Chamber of Montecitorio in Rome, of which an imposing life cast of rare beauty is on display, and the monuments dedicated to Zanardelli in Brescia, Prince Amedeo in the Valentino Park in Turin and Umberto I in Villa Borghese in Rome.

THE COLLECTIONS ON THE GROUND FLOOR
Along the four-sided portico is the archaeological section and in the dedicated rooms the Longobard-era tomb slab of the venerable Gudiris with a curse, a curious relief plan of the city by the draughtsman and lithographer Marco Nicolosino dating back to 1817, the Gipsoteca of the sculptor Annibale Galateri and the ancient pharmacy of the Santissima Annunziata Hospital of Savigliano (17th-20th century), where valuable majolica and porcelain vases, glass containers, wooden boxes and laboratory equipment are exhibited.17th-20th centuries), where valuable majolica and porcelain vases, glass containers, wooden boxes and laboratory equipment are on display.

 THE COLLECTIONS ON THE UPPER FLOOR
Important collections resulting from donations and acquisitions welcome visitors on the upper floor. Of particular note are: "Il trittico di Giobbe" (Job's triptych), a masterpiece of Flemish art, the "Crocifissione" (Crucifixion) by the painter Defendente Ferrari, one of the protagonists of the Piedmontese Renaissance, paintings from the great Savigliano Baroque period with artists such as Giovanni Antonio Molineri and Giovanni Claret, 19th and 20th century painting and sculpture, with works by Casorati, Delleani, Boetto, Reycend, Follini, Troubetzkoy, Gandi and Manzo. There is also a section dedicated to kinetic-optical art, visual poetry and experimental graphics.

One room is dedicated to the famous violinists Teresa and Maria Milanollo: in addition to a portrait of them of great intensity by Feyen, there are objects, souvenirs and crowns received as gifts during their triumphant tours throughout Europe. The visit is accompanied by original music composed by Teresa in memory of her sister Maria, who died prematurely.