Photo: Aldo Montemarano · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo diocesano di Melfi

Diocesan museum in the Baroque Episcopal Palace beside the Cathedral of Melfi, with liturgical silverware, vestments and a gallery of paintings from the 15th to the 18th century.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The Palazzo del Vescovado, also called Palazzo Vescovile or Episcopio, stands beside the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, in the heart of Melfi. The first structures date back to the Norman period; between 1472 and 1480 Bishop Gaspare Loffredo enlarged it, and later Matteo Bramano worked on it. After the earthquake of 1694, which reduced it almost to ruins, the bishops Antonio Spinelli and Pasquale Teodoro Basta rebuilt it in its present Baroque form.

The idea of a diocesan museum goes back to 1978, but delays postponed its opening: the museum was inaugurated on 6 July 2011 in rooms of the palace that had been partly converted from residence into public exhibition spaces. The palace has a large walled garden, the Salone degli stemmi (Hall of Coats of Arms), a throne room with frescoed walls, an 18th-century fountain in the inner courtyard and a grand staircase.

On the ground floor are displayed liturgical furnishings and silver objects, as well as the vestments worn by the bishops during ceremonies. The piano nobile (main floor) hosts a gallery of works from the 15th to the 18th century: a 15th-century painted stone Pietà, early 17th-century wooden busts used as reliquaries, and paintings by artists such as Francesco da Tolentino, Nicola Federici and Andrea Miglionico. The episcopal library also holds important documents and 16th-century printed books.

Highlights

Baroque episcopal palace beside the Cathedral
Painted stone Pietà from the 15th century
Wooden reliquary busts from the early 17th century
Triptych by Francesco da Tolentino
Liturgical silverware and bishops’ vestments
Hall of coats of arms and frescoed throne room