Some Information for visiting the International museum and library of music of Bologna

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Please note that the updated version of the website in English is under construction. We apologise for the inconvenience. In the meantime, we provide below the essential information for visiting the museum.

The Museum

The International museum and library of music was opened in 2004 inside the beautiful Palazzo Sanguinetti, in the historic center of Bologna. The building was reopened to the public after a long and careful restoration that brought back to their original splendor the rich, interior frescoes, which were completed between the end of the 1700’s and the beginning of the 1800’s, and which provide one of the highest examples of the Napoleonic and Neoclassical period in Bologna.
The idea to build a museum of music in Bologna began not only from the necessity to support the importance of the Bolognese experience in the art of music, but also from the demand to satisfy a number of intents. The first and most important intent was to bring awareness to the greater public of the rich variety of musical heritage that the Comune di Bologna owns and has kept for a long time. Until now, much of this heritage remained confined in warehouses for various reasons – the first and foremost being the lack of an adequate space – and was only occasionally brought out for temporary expositions or was only partially known by music experts.
The museum path opens among the “luxuriant” decorations of the Boschereccia Room with some symbolic works that serve as a prologue for the visitor to prepare for the trip through the musical universe.
Rooms 2 and 3 are dedicated to the spiritual father of the new museum, pictured in an oval by Angelo Crescimbeni: Giambattista Martini, whose priceless moral heritage, both intellectual and material, is celebrated here and made known to the greater public.
In Room 3, the relationships between Padre Martini and the stand-out personalities of the music world of that time, such as the young Mozart or Johann Christian Bach, who is represented in the famous portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, are displayed. In the same room, it’s also possible to admire the famous Sportelli di libreria musicale by Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
Room 4 (“The Idea of Music”) follows, which is dedicated to the musical scholars from the 1400’s to the 1600’s with important examples of musical treatises, and portraits of their respective authors, and some musical instruments of great importance like the unique omnitonum harpsichord by Vito Trasuntino (Venice 1606).
Some of the more relevant pieces are on display in the following Room 5 (Arts Room), which is dedicated to the “Books for music and instruments of the 16th and 17th centuries.” In this room, rare texts from the 1400’s until the famous Harmonice musices Odhecaton A., the first printed musical book by Ottaviano Petrucci, can be admired and are kept inside very modern, circular cases in the center of the room to match the rich decoration of the floors. Then there are the instruments: lutes; the harmony of flutes by Manfredo Settala of 1650, which represents a real unicum; the pochette, little violins used as instruments by dance instructors; and then the ghironde, the serpentoni, and the extraordinary series of horns and cornets from the 16th and 17th centuries; finally, a unique performance instrument, like the tiorba in the shape of a khitára.
Italian opera is the protagonist in the following room. The 1700’s are first in Room 6, dedicated to the famous singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli. His beautiful portrait, painted by Corrado Giaquinto, dominates the room, together with the portraits of the castrati from various periods and of composers from that time, such as Antonio Vivaldi and Domenico Cimarosa.
n Room 7, there are the 1800’s and Gioachino Rossini, whose name is forever tied to Bologna: portraits, busts, libretti from the first recitals of Isabella Colbran, a singer and Rossini’s first wife, the original score of Il barbiere di Siviglia, but also curious personal effects, like a dressing gown or a wig, and his grand piano constructed in 1844 by Camille Pleyel. The path proceeds through the centuries, the musical uses, and styles in Room 8, which is dedicated to “Books for music and instruments in the 18th and 19th centuries.” There are viole d’amore and flutes along with the original scores composed by Torelli, Vivaldi, Bertoni, etc. There are also clarinets and the beautiful Buccin, created in Lyon by Jean Baptiste Tabard (1812-1845).
To conclude the visit, Room 9 pays a proper tribute to two important people in the Italian and Bolognese musical culture, Giuseppe Martucci and Ottorino Respighi. This room displays the composer’s portraits, photographs, and a selection of works from the Respighi property, which was donated to the library in 1961 by the widow Elsa for the 25th anniversary of the composer’s death. In the same room, there is the portrait of the musician Arrigo Serato, painted by the famous artist Felice Casorati.

Opening hours

Museum

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 11.00am>1.30pm | 2.30pm>6.30pm
Friday 10.00am>1.30pm | 2.30pm>7.00pm
Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10.00am > 7.00pm
CLOSED on weekday Mondays; May 1; December 24 and 31 early closing at 2pm; December 25th.

Library

Tuesday, Friday 9.30am>1.30pm | Wednesday, Thursday 9.30am>1.30pm | 2.30pm>4.30pm
CLOSED on holidays (including October 4th, S. Petronio, patron saint of Bologna); 10>24 August 2024, 21 December 2024>6 January 2025

Museum Entrance Fees

Full rate: € 5
Reduced rate: € 3
Free admission for Card Cultura holders
Book your admission and buy your ticket online

Services

Museum

Library

How to get here

From railway or bus station:
on foot> from Piazza Medaglie d’Oro follow Via Indipendenza
to Piazza Maggiore, turn left into Via Rizzoli, at the Two Towers
continue on Strada Maggiore to number 34 | approx. 2 km
by bus> lines 25, 27. Bus stop: first on Strada Maggiore
by car> underground parking structure at Piazza VIII Agosto

Info

Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica (International museum and library of music)
Strada Maggiore 34 | 40125 Bologna
tel. +39 051 2757711
museomusica@comune.bologna.it
For educational services and guided tours: labmuseomusica@comune.bologna.it