Museum LA PINACOTECA FORESIANA – THE FORESIAN ART GALLERY

On 21st September, 1924, the Foresian Art Gallery and Library—until that time located within the town hall of the Medici “Biscotteria”—were opened to the general public. From then till now, the “Foresiana,” to use its Italian name, has been the most important cultural institution on the island.

Ten years had passed since 1914, the year when Mario Foresi decided to donate to the city and to the island his extensive archival, bibliographic, documentary, and artistic patrimony, collected by him and by his family during the course of the preceding decades.  More than a decade was needed—including five years complicated by World War I—to organize and make an inventory of the donated patrimony, and then transfer it to Elba.

The Foresiana was housed in the Palazzo della Biscotteria from 1914 to 1943, when, in fear of the World War II bombardments aimed at striking the steelmaking factory in the center of Portoferraio, the collection was transferred and safeguarded at the Napoleonic Residence of the Villa di San Martino.

At the beginning of the 1990s the Foresiana returned to the historic center of the city, in the venue where you can see it today: the De Laugier Cultural Center.

The Foresiana holds a rich collection of objets d’art, prints, and paintings, among whose creators stand out Telemaco Signorini, Plinio Nomellini, Antonio Ciseri, and Llewelyn Lloyd. Today it is a dynamic museum that hosts events and exhibitions, most recently ones organized in collaboration with the Uffizi Galleries of Florence, and with the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.

Opening hours: from April to September, Monday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.;
from September onwards, variable hours.