Since 1920, the Davia Bargellini Museum has been housed in the 17th-century Palazzo Davia Bargellini, the former residence of the Bargellini family. Considered one of the most significant civil buildings in Bologna for its size and noble design, it was commissioned in 1638 by Camillo Bargellini to the architect Bartolomeo Provaglia, who completed it within twenty years.
At the center, the entrance comes to life with two large sculptures of telamons supporting the central balcony, both created by 1658 by Gabriele Brunelli, a sculptor very active in the city and a student of Alessandro Algardi in Rome. Francesco Agnesini, Brunelli’s close collaborator, also worked on the one on the left. In a later intervention, around 1730, Senator Vincenzo Bargellini enhanced the building with a large and airy three-flight staircase leading to the first floor, embellished with stuccoes by Giuseppe Barelli. The design was likely also contributed to by the two leading architects of the time, Carlo Francesco Dotti (known for the Sanctuary of San Luca) and Alfonso Torreggiani, who oversaw its construction.
As for the Museum, it was originally set up on the second floor of the Palace and inaugurated in May 1920 as the Museum of Industrial Art, not decorative arts, as originally intended by its founder. Four years after its first opening, in 1924, the museum was moved to the ground floor with a new layout, occupying eight rooms (today seven, after one was converted into storage). This rethinking allowed the prestigious Davia Bargellini painting gallery to be integrated into the museum’s route.
Even today, the exhibition rooms largely reflect the original concept of the museum, where Malaguzzi brought together two distinct patrimonial collections that still make up the museum: the collection of applied arts and the renowned Bargellini painting gallery. His aim was to recreate a furnished 18th-century Bolognese apartment, where, alongside fine furniture and furnishings, rare objects are displayed, such as the scenic 18th-century Venetian puppet theater and the charming miniature reproduction of the interior of an 18th-century private Emilian home. This “kind of cabinetmaking diversion, possibly modeled after the more famous dollhouses” found in northern Europe, was quite rare in Italy. Thus, an eclectic collection of applied art objects emerged, “curiosities of old Bologna,” featuring a diverse array of materials: wrought iron, copper, ornamental bronzes, embossed leather, including the famous Astuccio per pietra di paragone (touchstone case), a refined testimony from the 15th century; keys, fittings, furniture handles; a significant collection of glassware (16th-18th centuries); ceramics, and porcelain from the most important European manufactories (Meissen, Ludwigsburg, Frankenthal, Höchst). There are also highly valuable wax models, including the Head of St. Philip Neri by Alessandro Algardi, inspired by the saint’s death mask, as well as wallpaper and book samples, fabrics, embroideries, silver vestments, liturgical furnishings, fans, miniature portraits, collections of snuffboxes, enameled watches, enameled watch keys, and painted dials (18th-19th centuries). Also noteworthy are the miniature models for furniture and chairs from the 18th-19th centuries. In addition to these collections, there is an extensive collection of precious carved and gilded frames (16th-19th centuries), many still in their original condition, with corresponding paintings. Among them, the two large frames with intricately carved scrolls and sunflowers, dating back to 1699 and housed in the main hall of the museum, stand out as “recognized as some of the most spectacular examples of the decorative formulas that enjoyed great success in Bologna, such as Filippo Passarini’s repertoire (1698).”
In the main hall, the Director has assembled furniture and furnishings to create a sumptuous scene: the walls are adorned with the famous series of paintings by Marcantonio Franceschini, complete with their original frames, while all around are display cases, armchairs, chairs, and three richly decorated consoles attributed to Lucio Lucci, featuring mother-of-pearl inlaid tops, originally from the noble apartment of Senator Vincenzo Bargellini and likely commissioned by him in Venice around 1698. In Malaguzzi Valeri’s vision, the hall becomes the culmination of his museum ideal, a place where one can “revive in the imagination a vanished world”: “When the rooms come to life with visitors and the gleaming gold of the sumptuous 18th-century furniture in the grandest hall shines and sparkles in the evening under the light of the fifteen-hundred-candle electric lamps, it becomes easier to evoke the ancient comings and goings of adorned ladies and gentlemen with swords awaiting the Cardinal Legate, the slow swaying of dances, and graceful bows to the sound of musical instruments, now silent in a corner.
