The civic museum “Amedeo Lia” is located in La Spezia. It was inaugurated in 1996 to house the numerous artworks donated during his lifetime by the collector Amedeo Lia to the Municipality of La Spezia.
The museum is located in via del Prione, in the pedestrian area of the city’s historic center. The building that houses the museum is the ancient conventual complex of the Minimi friars of San Francesco di Paola, built starting from 1616. In the following centuries, the convent first became a military and then a civilian hospital. From 1914, the new hospital was first transformed into a barracks and residence, and after World War I, it was finally used as the seat of the Pretura and then of municipal offices.
The renovation took place in the nineties, necessary to make the building suitable for hosting the prestigious museum.
Inside, a wide variety of works are exhibited, from classical, late ancient, medieval, and up to the 18th century: paintings, miniatures, sculptures in bronze, copper, ivory, wood, glass, majolica, art objects that over the centuries document the taste and culture of art in Italy and Europe.
A beautiful collection of gold backgrounds, where two panels by Pietro Lorenzetti stand out, and other works by great masters such as Titian, Tintoretto, Canaletto, and many others, as well as sculptures and refined objects both for liturgical and secular use, dating from the 5th century BC.
Staying at Downtown Blue Apartment, you can visit this splendid museum considered the small “Louvre” of Liguria.
Credits photo: Davide Marcesini