Accademia Carrara (Carrara Academy), Bergamo

The Carrara Academy, officially known as the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts in Bergamo, is a prestigious art gallery and academy of fine arts. Situated down a stepped lane leading from Saint Agostino Gate, this palace houses one of Italy's premier art museums.

The art gallery was established around 1780 by Giacomo Carrara, a collector and connoisseur of the arts from Bergamo. By 1785, the gallery was open to the public, and in 1794, an academy of fine arts was added to its premises under the guidance of Milanese painter Carlo Dionigi Sadis.

In his will, Carrara bequeathed his entire estate to the gallery and art school he founded, which was to be managed by a five-member commission. After Carrara's passing in 1796, the academy and gallery continued to thrive.

In 1810, a new neoclassical-style building was constructed for the Carrara Academy. The architectural project was carried out by Simone Elia, a pupil of Leopoldo Pollack.

The Carrara Academy boasts a remarkable collection of artworks. Approximately 500 paintings and 60 sculptures are on display at any given time, carefully selected from the museum's vast collection, which encompasses over 1,500 paintings and 130 sculptures.

The collections housed within the academy include works by renowned Italian artists such as Lorenzo Lotto, Palma il Vecchio, Giovanni Battista Moroni, Vittore Carpaccio, Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Girolamo Romani Romanino, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Raphael, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and Carlo Crivelli. In addition, the museum features works by notable international artists like Albrecht Dürer and Anton van Dyck.