Museo della Città “Luigi Tonini”

About the museum

The Museo della Città in Rimini is housed in the former Jesuit College, an eighteenth-century building designed by Alfonso Torreggiani and built between 1746 and 1755 as a seminary and convent. After the suppression of the Jesuits it passed to the Dominicans; in 1797 it became the civic hospital, was seriously damaged by bombing in the Second World War, and remained in use until 1977.

Since 1990 it has housed the civic museum, redisplayed to a design by Pier Luigi Foschi. In 2015 it was named after Luigi Tonini, the Rimini historian who had founded the city's first civic museum; in the same year the garden was dedicated to the archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad. The cloister contains the Roman lapidarium, with inscriptions from the 1st to the 4th century.

The route tells the story of human presence in the Rimini area from prehistory to the present day. The archaeological section begins with traces of Homo erectus on the Covignano hill and reaches late antique mosaics, together with the surgical instruments of the Domus del Chirurgo and a rare glass painting (pinax). The picture gallery presents the Rimini School of the fourteenth century, the works of the Malatesta court of the fifteenth century (Giovanni Bellini, Ghirlandaio, Agostino di Duccio) and the seventeenth-century paintings of Cagnacci, Guercino and Cantarini. A permanent space is dedicated to the illustrations of René Gruau.

Highlights

• Archaeological route from prehistory to late antiquity, with Roman mosaics
• Surgical instruments from the Domus del Chirurgo and a rare glass painting (pinax)
• Rimini School of the fourteenth century and works by Giovanni Bellini and Ghirlandaio
• Seventeenth-century paintings by Cagnacci, Guercino and Simone Cantarini
• Permanent space dedicated to the illustrations of René Gruau

Permanent exhibitions

• Sezione archeologica – From the flint tools of Homo erectus on the Covignano hill to late antique mosaics, with the surgical set of the Domus del Chirurgo and a room devoted to the sea.
• Pinacoteca e sezione medievale e moderna – Medieval lapidarium, the Rimini School of the fourteenth century, works from the Malatesta court, tapestries and seventeenth-century paintings.
• René Gruau – Permanent space on the second floor with the graphic work of René Gruau, a native of Rimini and fashion illustrator active for over seventy years.

Operated by

Comune di Rimini – Settore Musei

Visitors per year

approx. 155,281

Admission & discounts

The ticket is also valid for the Domus del Chirurgo. Free admission also for accredited journalists, tourist guides, teachers visiting with their class, ICOM members, residents of the Province of Rimini and on one's own birthday (with ID). On 14 February two people enter with a single ticket, and on 8 March admission is free for women.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is in the historic centre of Rimini. By car, approach via the S.S. 16 Adriatica, the S.S. 9 Emilia, the Marecchiese or the A14 motorway (Rimini Sud exit). The city is served by the Bologna–Rimini, Ancona–Rimini and Ferrara–Rimini railway lines and by Federico Fellini International Airport.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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