Museo Civico e Gipsoteca Bistolfi

The Bistolfi Civic Museum and Plaster Collection in Casale Monferrato is located in the former Augustinian convent of Santa Croce, decorated in the early 17th century by Guglielmo Caccia, known as Moncalvo. The museum has twenty-four rooms and houses over five hundred works, divided into four main sections: the Pinacoteca, the Gipsoteca Leonardo Bistolfi, the Deposito visitabile Bistolfi and the Sala Vidua.

The Pinacoteca's eighteen rooms were created by the will and bequest of Countess Clara Leardi, and have been enriched over time thanks to donations, acquisitions and deposits, starting from the second half of the 19th century. The collection includes paintings on canvas, panel, glass and mirror, ceramics, wood and stone sculptures, silverware, banners and frontals, with works ranging from the late 14th century to the late 19th century.

The Gipsoteca di Leonardo Bistolfi (Casale Monferrato, 1859 - La Loggia, 1933), dedicated to one of the major exponents of Italian Symbolism, gathers over one hundred and seventy works including terracotta, drawings, sketches, plaster models, marbles and bronzes. The works come largely from the donation of the Casalese banker Camillo Venesio and the sculptor's family.

As of June 2022, the Bistolfi Visiting Depot, which houses some of the collection's most recent acquisitions, will also be accessible.

The Vidua Room exhibits a selection of objects that belonged to the traveller and explorer Carlo Vidua (Casale Monferrato, 1785 - Ambon, Indonesia, 1830), who collected all kinds of objects, curiosities and material evidence of the places, peoples and cultures he encountered during his travels across five continents.