Museo civico di arte contemporanea «Luigi Lezzi»

Municipal museum of contemporary art on the upper floor of the Palazzo Ducale in San Cesario di Lecce, founded on the bequest of the sculptor Aldo Calò.

Opening hours unknownFree admission

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About the museum

The Museo civico di San Cesario di Lecce was established in 1979 on the initiative of the mayor Luigi Lezzi, after the sculptor Aldo Calò donated works; the museum is now named after Lezzi. In 1984 it received the name Museo civico di San Cesario, and in 2012 it was completely re-displayed.

It is housed in the Palazzo Ducale, a building from the second half of the seventeenth century constructed on the foundations of a sixteenth-century fortress, with a façade decorated with niches, mythological statues and busts of the ancestors of the Marulli dukes. The collection centres on the Calò donation (sixteen sculptures and twenty graphic works), enlarged by later bequests from local and Italian artists, including Barbieri, Leandro, D'Amato, Cantatore and Sambati.

In 2026 the museum reopened with a new display curated by Fabio Tolledi and Carmelo Cipriani, with multimedia installations by the AVR Lab of the University of Salento and a section devoted to the Archivio Sonoro di Comunità (Community Sound Archive). Its management is linked to the project “Da qui si vede tutta la città” (From Here You Can See the Whole City).

Highlights

Aldo Calò donation: sculptures and graphic works
Works by Salento and Italian artists of the twentieth century
Multimedia installations by AVR Lab (University of Salento)
Archivio Sonoro di Comunità (Community Sound Archive)
Seat in the Palazzo Ducale of the Marulli family

Permanent exhibition

Collezione permanente di arte contemporanea – Works by local and national artists (Calò, Barbieri, Leandro, D'Amato, Cantatore, Sambati and others), with multimedia installations and a sound archive.

Founded: 1979
Operated by: Comune di San Cesario di Lecce