Museum tour in Rende

Did you know that in the historical centre of Rende, on the outskirts of Cosenza, is kept no less than a work by Pablo Picasso? It is La Célestine (1968, aquatint, 14.5×7.5 cm), a small jewel of contemporary art among the many on offer in the so-called ‘’Village of Museums‘’.

Imagine a medieval village where, walking through the alleys, one can take a true itinerary of modern and contemporary art, admiring works by artists who have made the history of painting and the plastic arts worldwide. Just visit the museums of Rende, a virtuous system of fruition and appreciation.  

Follow us on a tour of discovery of the museums in Rende.

Rende, on the outskirts of Cosenza, is known to most for its metropolitan face, which sees it as the seat of the University of Calabria (UNICAL) and a lively commercial and nightlife centre. But how many know about the surprising historic centre of Rende (known as ‘’Rende Paese‘’ or ‘’Rende Vecchia‘’), on the panoramic hill behind the university campus? How many know that it is a true ‘’Village of Museums‘’?

Let's walk together to what was once ancient Arintha (7th century B.C.) and which today is the historic centre of Rende, a medieval village in all respects, gathered around two symbolic buildings: the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (the Mother Church), built in the 12th century and recently restored, and the Norman Castle (also known as the ‘’Stone Giant‘’), dating back to 1095. These two monuments are very important, both for the era they represent and for the works housed inside them. If the Mother Church boasts canvases by Cristoforo Santanna and Giuseppe Pascaletti, the castle, which still bears the coats of arms of the ancient owner families (Magdalone and Alarçon de Mendoza), is home to one of the most prestigious museums in Rende: the ‘’Bilotti‘’ Museum of Contemporary Art.

The flagship among the many museums in Rende, the MAON - Museum of 19th and 20th Century Art was opened in 2004 on the initiative of the Art and Culture Centre ‘Antonio Capizzano’ at Palazzo Vitari, an 18th-century building that was the former Convent of the Clarisse in the historic centre of Rende. In addition to the permanent collection of around 20 creations by Achille Capizzano from the late 1920s to the post-war period, the MAON exhibits the works of around 50 Calabrian artists (Rotella, Marasco, Di Sarro, Guerrieri, Gallo, Pirri, Berlingeri, Magli, etc.) from the last forty years of the 20th century and the Children's Bell Tower monument by sculptor Bruce Hasson. In 2005, the Cosenza collector Luigi Ladaga donated to MAON around a hundred paintings, sculptures and graphic works by major contemporary Italian and foreign artists (including Picasso, Braque, Dali, Max Ernst, Balla, Campigli, Burri, Fontana, etc.), as well as about a thousand art books. Finally, in 2012, the museum acquired a nucleus of 18 works from the ‘Carmine Domenico Rizzo’ Foundation, ranging from Futurism to Abstract-Concrete Art.

The Rende museum tour continues with a stop at Palazzo Bucarelli, where, since 2014, the ‘’Roberto Bilotti Ruggi d'Aragona‘’ Museum of Ceramics of Calabria is located. Here, enthusiasts of the ancient art of Calabrian ceramics can admire a collection of specimens tracing ceramics in Calabria from prehistoric times to the present day. The precious artefacts are representative of the different dominations that have traversed the region (Magna-Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque ceramics) up to the most recent and local manufactures.

A small outpost of the contemporary in the centre of a medieval village, this is the Museum of Contemporary Art ‘’Bilotti‘’, in the halls of the ancient castle. Inside, a significant variety of works by artists of the calibre of Andy Warhol, Claudio Abate, Mario Ceroli, Luigi Ontani and Bruno Ceccobelli, but also younger artists such as Chiara Dynys, Omar Galliani, Guentalina Salini, Maurizio Savini and Pietro Ruffo. The work of the latter is the large German tank from World War II, made of wood and covered with the pages of a Jewish prayer book carved in the form of scarabs. Born from the private donations of Roberto Bilotti Ruggi d'Aragona, the museum is dedicated to artistic expressions of a different nature: from painting to sculpture, passing through photography, installations and video art. Alongside the permanent collection, there are temporary exhibitions, workshop activities and a series of artistic and cultural events.

Located in a building in the commercial area of Rende, the Museum of the Present was created as a centre of excellence for photographic exhibitions, film forums, shows, conferences and book presentations. It is one of the most modern complexes in the area, comprising eight exhibition halls on two floors: on the ground floor are the Tokyo Hall and the Internet Café; on the upper floor, the Thought Laboratory and the Belvedere of Arts and Sciences. Among the artists who have exhibited their works at the Museum of the Present in Rende: Ivana Russo (Desert), Anna Romanello (Tentative d'évasion) and Domenico Lo Russo (Science and Art). Not to be missed is the section The Machines of Time, which offers a fascinating display of models of working machines reproduced from drawings in the Leonardo da Vinci's Codices. 

We continue our tour of museums in Rende with an environmental gem: the riMUSEUM - Museum for the Environment is the right place to become aware of environmental issues related to recycling. It is located at the University of Calabria and is the only museum in Italy entirely dedicated to the theme of waste. It is spread over 3 floors in an interactive manner, inviting visitors to take an active part in the issues related to waste disposal and ecological ‘’good practices‘’.

A must-see among the museums in Rende is the Civic Museum, at Palazzo Zagarese, the home of the family linked to the Cosenza liquorice mining business. Inside the palace, which still retains its original structure with a double loggia and a neoclassical colonnade, the museum is divided into two sections (with a total of 9 rooms): the Anthropological Section, which includes a valuable collection of arbëreshë costumes from various communities with an Italo-Albanian ethno-linguistic minority, and the Art Gallery, whose oldest nucleus dates back to 1695. Here, among the most outstanding works are the Madonna della Purità by Flemish artist Dirk Hendricksz, important masterpieces by Mattia Preti, such as The Soldier and the Burial of St. Andrew, canvases by Solimena representing 17th-century Neapolitan art, and several works from local churches, such as Pascaletti's Holy Family.