Photo: Pia81 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo civico d'arte contemporanea – Pinacoteca Cascella

Civic museum in the 16th-century Palazzo Farnese in Ortona, with works by the Cascella family and the Ex Libris Mediterraneo collection.

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About the museum

The museum occupies the ground floor and upper floors of Palazzo Farnese in Ortona, a 16th-century building owned by the municipality. It preserves the memory of the artists Basilio Cascella and of his sons Michele and Tommaso. Its rooms hold canvases, ceramics and designs by the family, originally from Rapino, together with works donated by other sculptors.

On the upper floor, the rooms are dedicated to Basilio, Michele, Tommaso and Gioacchino Cascella. A large auditorium hall with a painted timber-truss ceiling also holds canvases by artists from Ortona and by Francesco Paolo Michetti. There are 53 works by the Cascellas, including lithographs by Basilio, views of Ortona by Michele and images of the village of Rapino by Tommaso and Gioacchino.

On the ground floor the museum also houses the Ex Libris Mediterraneo collection, with the original posters of the various editions of the exhibition, and a room devoted to studies on Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Ortona.

Highlights

Works by Basilio, Michele, Tommaso and Gioacchino Cascella
Lithographs by Basilio Cascella, such as Fiori di cardo (1901)
Views of Ortona painted by Michele Cascella
Ex Libris Mediterraneo collection
16th-century Palazzo Farnese
Auditorium hall with painted timber-truss ceiling

Permanent exhibitions

Collezione della famiglia Cascella – 53 works by Basilio, Michele, Tommaso and Gioacchino Cascella, including lithographs, canvases, ceramics and designs.
Museo Ex Libris Mediterraneo – Original posters of the editions of the Ex Libris Mediterraneo exhibition, displayed in several rooms on the ground floor.

Operated by: Comune di Ortona
Visitors per year: approx. 6,000