CARMI - Carrara and Michelangelo Museum
A permanent exhibition demonstrats the tight connections between Michelangelo and the marble of Carrara
The CARMI – Carrara and Michelangelo Museum is found in the Villa Fabbricotti, a 19th-century building within the Padula Park in the city of Carrara.
The museum complex, split across three floors, is dedicated to the figure of Michelangelo, a vital point in history from Renaissance art to the art of today. On the main floor, the museum has a permanent exhibition dedicated the relationship between the artist and the area, the city of Carrara and marble. This link started in the final years of the 15th century, when Michelangelo took his first journey to Carrara. He took the chance to visit the marble caves and to dedicate himself to his vocation: sculpting.
Visitors, in 6 themed rooms, can admire recreations such as his Moses, full scale, holograms of works like David which comes to life in a room with videos, photographs, prints and historical documents.
There are also finely articulated reproductions of works by artists like Rothko, Le Corbusier, Arata Isozaki, Robert Venturi with its original stand inspired by the Roman Piazza del Campidoglio (1983-85). Even before this, two giant photos of the Pietà from the Vatican and the Pietà by Jean Fabre (2011) greet visitors on the middle landing, at the sides of the staircase.
The raised ground floor has an in-depth section about the history of the Fabbricotti villa and family. The tour is completely by a lower ground floor where there are rooms dedicated to teaching and reading and a cafeteria space, as well as two rooms used to project films which recount the relationship between Michelangelo and the land of Carrara.
The building, as expected, is surrounded by the Padula Park, an artistic park full of environmental works of art, including works by international artists Merz, Mainolfi, Parmiggiani and Morris.
Accessibility information: regione.toscana.it
