The National Gallery of Umbria is one of the richest collections in Italy with works of international renown.

The impressive number and variety of artistic works housed in the museum range from paintings on wood, canvas and murals, to sculptures in wood and stone, to goldsmith's art and fabrics, which exemplify the artistic evolution in the territory between the 13th and 19th centuries.

The museum's origins can be traced back to the founding of the Perugia Academy of Design (1573). Then, in the second half of the 19th century, a major addition was added to the original building. This event coincided with the suppression of the religious orders and corporations, at the time when the state confiscated the ecclesiastic religious works which were subsequently added to the collection.

The breadth and scientific importance of the acquired corpus led, in 1863, to the establishment of a Civic Picture Gallery, dedicated to Pietro Vannucci. In 1918 the prestige of the collection became so renown that the state, recognizing its national importance, acquired the collection and named it the Regia Galleria Vannucci. The collection was housed on the third floor of the Dei Priori palace, one of the most important examples of civil Gothic architecture. Known after World War II as the "National Gallery of Umbria" , the museum's collection was continuously expanded in order to make the exhibit more complete. And thanks to the quantity and quality of its works, this collection is one of the most interesting in the world today. The museum itinerary, expanded in December 2006, occupies an area of 4,000 square metres over two floors.  This prestigious collection, displayed in chronological order, includes various masterpieces from the Middle Ages and Renaissance with works by Arnolfo di Cambio, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Duccio di Boninsegna, Gentile da Fabriano, Beato Angelico, Benozzo Bozzoli and Piero della Francesca. A considerable amount of space is dedicated to the Umbrian artists Benedetto Bonfigli, Bartolomeo Caporali, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo and especially to famous paintings by Perugino, Pintoricchio and their students and followers. Other sections, characterized by carefully designed display solutions, are dedicated to the masterpieces of the Sienese goldsmith's art, to the traditional "Perugian tablecloths" that are part of the Cagnotti Bellucci and Rocchi collections, to ceramic floor tiles produced from the 15th and 16th century and a never before seen collection of drawings, including a precious sanguine study by Federico Barocci. The museum's itinerary continues with an exhaustive collection of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century paintings and sculptures created in Umbria by some of the most important artists of the time, such as Orazio Gentileschi, Vlentin de Boulogne, Pietro da Cortona, Giovan Battista Salvi also known as Sassoferrato, Pietro Montanini, Corrado Giaquinto, Francesco Trevisani, Pierre Subleyras, Sebastiano Conca. The exhibition concludes with an original presentation of materials related to 19th-century Perugia topography and the precious Carattoli collection.

Info:
tel.075 5721009 - 5741400
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from Tuesday to Sunday 8:30am - 7:30pm (ticket office closes at 6:30pm)

closed Monday

Special openings are periodically provided on Monday at9.30 a.m. – 7.30 p.m. (Informations  tel. 075 5721009- 075 58668415)

Closed December 25^th, January 1^st, May 1^st