Photo: Marco_Chemello_(WMIT) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Palazzo Bonaguro

Fifteenth-century palace in Bassano del Grappa, seat of the Musei Civici, with the permanent exhibition “Mondo Animale” of rare mammals.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

Palazzo Bonaguro stands near the Ponte Vecchio, in the Angarano district of Bassano del Grappa. Built from the 15th century onwards, it belonged until the early 17th century to the Venetian Veggia family, who gave the property a monumental appearance and created a stage-like garden with allegorical statues, fountains and perspective walks. In later centuries it passed to the Querini, Correr, Albertoni and Giaconi Bonaguro families. The Comune di Bassano received it as a gift in 1969.

The building is imposing and symmetrical, with large central halls placed one above the other, linked by stairs and surrounded by circuits of rooms. The decorative scheme combines the Bassano and Venetian traditions; the interiors were frescoed from the outset and preserve, among other things, a 16th-century depiction of a banquet of ladies and gentlemen inspired by a theme of Paolo Veronese.

On the top floor the palace houses “Mondo Animale”, a permanent exhibition open to the public since 2006. It brings together a small but important zoological collection of rare mammals, entrusted to the Musei Civici on permanent loan by the CITES service, with three main families threatened with extinction: bears, bovids and felids. The palace is one of the venues of the Musei Civici di Bassano and also hosts exhibitions and events.

Highlights

Permanent exhibition “Mondo Animale” with bears, bovids and felids
Overlapping central halls with frescoed decoration
Banquet of ladies and gentlemen in the style of Veronese
Seat of the Musei Civici near the Ponte Vecchio

Permanent exhibition

Mondo Animale – Small zoological collection of rare mammals (bears, bovids and felids) on permanent loan from the CITES service, open to the public since 2006.