Museo Civico Luigi Bailo
The Museo Civico Luigi Bailo occupies a fifteenth-century convent on Borgo Cavour, its façade quietly redesigned by Austrian architect Heinz Tesar when the museum reopened in 2015 after more than a decade of closure. Walk through and the building earns its keep: two Renaissance cloisters, a collection spanning Impressionism to the avant-gardes, and a Galleria del Novecento that holds around 340 works — the kind of number that sounds like a lot until you find yourself standing in front of Arturo Martini's early sculptures and losing track of time.
Martini was born in Treviso in 1889, and seeing his work here, in the city that shaped him, carries a different weight than encountering it in a national collection. Gino Rossi, his contemporary, gets serious wall space too. The itinerary moves chronologically through local artistic life — artists in Treviso across the 1800s, the Ca' Pesaro years, the interwar period — so you end up with a genuine portrait of a city thinking about itself.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to linger in the cloisters between galleries rather than rushing through. The bookshop is worth a slow look — local publications and crafts that aren't the usual tourist-trail fare. If you're visiting between March and November 2026, the Nino Springolo exhibition adds a focused, unhurried hour to any visit.
The story behind Museo Civico Luigi Bailo
Don Luigi Bailo — priest, collector, and tireless archivist — founded the Trivigiano Museum in 1882. He lived to 97, directing it for much of that time, and his personal passion for gathering Treviso's artistic and documentary heritage gave the institution its character.
The building he chose had its own long life before the museum arrived. Jesuit Fathers of Saint Jerome established the convent in the fifteenth century; in 1681 it passed to the Discalced Carmelites. A 1959 extension brought in the modern art collection. Then, in 2003, the museum closed for what became its most thorough reinvention: Heinz Tesar's redesign produced the reopening in October 2015, and a second phase of works, concluded in 2024, added seven new rooms. The adjacent original Scalzi monastery now serves as the city's main library.
Good to know
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is six euros full price, four euros reduced (groups of ten or more, over-65s, university students). Children under six enter free. Budget around ninety minutes to two hours.
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What travellers say about Museo Civico Luigi Bailo
This Art Gallery and Museum is one of the best that we have visited in Italy. Beautifully curated, wonderful paintings and explanations clearly displayed in Italian and English. There was a lot to see as the paintings of Nino Springolo were being shown. We enjoyed looking around this extensive gallery and museum very much. Seeing this gallery alone, is worth a trip to the stunning city of Treviso!
A nice museum full of important works by Italian sculptor and painter Arturo Martini. Definitely one of the top visits in Treviso, even the city itself is very beautiful. 10 € standard ticket, university students, elders and other special reduced ticket prices apply.
Very nice museum it had a very interesting exhibition I was looking forward to see but unfortunately they didn’t have English translation at the specific exhibition which was disappointing as I wanted to read about the exhibits and everything was in Italian. The exhibition catalog was also only in Italian as every other book related to this exhibition. The museum is very nice though and the stuff is friendly and polite. If only they had English translation it would make the experience better!
Well restored museum from an ancient monastery. Permanent exhibition of local artists, especially the sculptor, local glory, Martini, combined with temporary exhibitions. Currently, April 2025, the exhibition of the Japanese artist Hokusai occurs. Famous for the images of Mount Fuji seen from various points of view, the famous wave and the Manga notebooks. All very beautiful and well described, alas, in the only domestic language, Italian. A serious flaw is the lack of signage in other languages. Evidently an exhibition dedicated exclusively to the local population.
One of my favourite modern/contemporary art museums in Veneto. The quality of the collection, interior design, and labels were beyond that of a provincial museum. Arturo Martini was definitely the highlight, though there is many more Italian artists to admire. This museum is an absolute gem.
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