The Luigi Varoli Civic Museum has several locations, sections and an exhibition composed by different paths, interweaving and ramifications that reflect the curious and mobile gaze that characterised the life and works of Cotignola artist Luigi Varoli (1889-1958). The main locations are: Palazzo Sforza and Casa-Studio Luigi Varoli, which are joined by the Scuola Arte e Mestieri, Varoli’s school that is still active with workshops and appointments for children, young people and families.
The rooms on the ground and second floor of Palazzo Sforza are used for temporary exhibitions, while the first floor houses the Picture Gallery, with the artist’s most significant works, and the Archaeological Section, a collection of artefacts from Roman times to the late Middle Ages. In addition to paintings, papier-mâché is undoubtedly the area of production in which the artist’s most personal note is expressed: some large papier-mâché heads are exhibited, and they depict, caricatured, the features of characteristic Cotignola characters, and numerous terracotta and wood sculptures.
The Casa Studio – Luigi Varoli reopened to the public in 2024 with a new layout.
It is a special place that collects works and objects made and collected by the artist, as well as contemporary works and installations, that are the result of the art projects that have involved the museum in recent years, including Inventario Varoli and Azzimo 41, a work of the artist Matteo Lucca that became part of the collections with the support of the PAC2022-2023 – Piano per l’Arte Contemporanea, promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.
The house-museum includes also the master’s library, his photographic archive and spaces dedicated to his love for music.
Testimonies of local history are mainly related to World War II, the marks it left and the people involved in heroic deeds. It’s important to remember that the Righteous Among the Nations from Cotignola, of which Varoli was a member, and the entire community, helped save fleeing Jews, political refugees and displaced persons.
Two other works also contribute to recounting the events of that historical period: the graphic novel L’Argine by Marina Girardi and Rocco Lombardi (2016), and David Loom’s installation Frame (2012), an all-black room where a flow of sounds and images retraces, as in a film of memory, the dramatic 144 days of the war front’s stay and stationing on the Senio River during World War II, until its liberation on 10 th April 1945.
In the garden of Casa Varoli there is permanent installation entitled ‘Heads, monsters, spirits and capitals‘, a site-specific project by the artist Nero/Alessandro Neretti, curated by Massimiliano Fabbri. The artist imagined and produced a bestiary made up of a series of small sculptures in ceramic, stone and iron, which took shape from the dialogue with this place and with the poetics of the great artist from Cotignola. The project is the winner of the PAC – Piano per l’Arte Contemporanea 2021, promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and intended for the production of works of contemporary art and creativity. To consult the map of the works, click here.
The Museum is part of the itineraries Bassa Romagna for families and From museum to museum houses
Useful information
Address: Corso Sforza 21/24 – 48010 Cotignola (RA)
Phone: 0545 908810 – 320 4364316
Email: museovaroli@comune.cotignola.ra.it
Web site: http://www.museovaroli.it/
How to get
All the venues are in the historical town centre. Car parks along corso Sforza. Accessible to disabled.
Timetables informations
Palazzo Sforza:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 8.30am to12.30pm (by calling 0545 908810 – 320 4364316)
Friday 4.30pm-6.30pm
Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 12pm and from 3.30pm to 6.30pm
Casa Varoli:
Friday 4.30pm-6.30pm
Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 12pm and from 3.30pm to 6.30pm
closed on August
Free entrance
(Updated to 21/06/2024)
