Revoltella Museum Trieste Italy

 Fantastic Art Museum

The Revoltella Civic Museum can be found in Trieste, the building and its contents were bequeathed to the city of Trieste by Baron Pasquale Revoltella.

Pasquale Revoltella came from humble beginnings, he was the son of a butcher who moved the family to Trieste, then a major trading port, when Pasquale was 2 years old. Pasquale's father died when Pasquale was 13 years old and he went to work to support his family. He was the epitome of the self-made man. He built his fortune bit by bit, invested wisely and reached the heights of the vice president of the Suez Canal Universal company and received the title of Baron from the Austrian Emperor. (Trieste was at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.)

Revoltella never married and had no heirs so he bequeathed his winter home, for it to become a museum, and his summer home, it's now a public park with his Swiss Chalet home, further out of the city, along with money to fund his museum and add to his art collection.

So what you see now is this terrific house museum and art collection.

You enter into the ground floor which has his carriage, and then see (and hear) the beautiful water sculpture representing Trieste's waterways.

The ornate staircase takes you up to the first and second floors, the first floor housed Revoltella's private apartment and the second has the rooms used to entertain.

The Baron's Library

The Formal dining room

His simpler dining room in his private apartment.

The Blue sitting room

Revoltella was heavily involved in the building of the Suez Canal, seeing its importance to European trade. In 1861 he travelled to Egypt to visit the construction site of the Suez Canal and the painting on the wall, shows the canal under construction. Sadly he died 2 months before the canal was opened so he never got to see it completed.

The Ballroom

By the end of the 19th century, it was obvious that there wasn't enough room to exhibit all of the art works. Particularly as more art works were purchased with the money he had left behind. So the palazzo next door, the Brunner Palazzo was bought to create more exhibition space.

It seems not much was done to the Brunner Palazzo, it was acquired in 1907, until the early 1960s. World events may have caused this delay when looking at early 20th century history of Trieste.

Reconstruction was begun in 1963, in the modernist architecture style that was popular at the time. It is quite the contrast to Revoltella's palazzo, again delays and problems occurred and the Brunner Palazzo exhibition space was finally opened in 1991.

The Revoltella museum in Trieste is a fabulous house museum and art gallery to visit. Its main facade is in Piazza Venezia, opposite the cruise terminal. The main entrance is around the corner in via Diaz and you enter through the modern palazzo. There is an entrance fee, but entrance is free the first Sunday of the month.