Museo della Città di Livorno (Livorno City Museum), Livorno

The Livorno City Museum explores the city’s history through carefully selected objects that reflect Livorno’s long-standing identity as an open port where newcomers were historically welcomed. Rather than occupying a single purpose-built structure, the museum is spread across a historic architectural complex. The museum occupies the former Church of the Assumption and Saint Joseph, and the Bottini dell’Olio underground Oil Storage.

Since 2018, the Bottini dell’Olio has been used primarily for temporary exhibitions, while museum access has developed gradually. In recent years, public visitation has focused mainly on the contemporary art galleries, housed within the former Church of the Assumption.

On the ground floor of the Bottini section, the museum displays material drawn from the Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum and the Labronica Library, alongside numismatic and archaeological collections numbering several hundred objects. These include Etruscan and Roman artifacts, many from the collection of Enrico Chiellini, a local collector. A particularly important section is the Garibaldi Memorabilia, which includes personal items and clothing associated with Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of the central figures of the Risorgimento, the 19th-century movement that led to the unification of Italy.

The Church of the Assumption now hosts the museum’s contemporary art displays, featuring works by major 20th-century Italian artists such as Piero Manzoni, known for his conceptual approach to art; Emilio Vedova, associated with expressive abstraction; Pino Pascali, linked to the Arte Povera movement; Tancredi Parmeggiani, an experimental abstract painter; and Giuseppe Uncini, whose work explored structure and material.