Palazzina delle Arti
On Via del Prione, La Spezia's main pedestrian artery, a compact neo-medieval building holds one of the more quietly absorbing collections in the region: over 1,500 seals spanning six thousand years, donated by collectors Lilian and Euro Capellini and installed here from 2000. Ancient Egyptian cylinders sit a few metres from Tibetan stamps and Art Nouveau pieces — the kind of range that makes you recalibrate your sense of how long humans have been pressing marks into soft material.
The Palazzina delle Arti also carries a permanent exhibition tracing La Spezia's own urban evolution, from the 19th-century paintings of Agostino Fossati to the present day, alongside a specialist library in art history and archaeology.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who make it upstairs to the seal collection tend to stay longer than expected. The cases reward slow looking — find the medieval European ecclesiastical seals, then trace your way back to the ancient Near East. The €3.50 entry is one of the better-value hours you'll spend in La Spezia.
The story behind Palazzina delle Arti
Franco Oliva designed the building in 1924 as the seat of La Spezia's Office of Hygiene — a municipal workhorse dressed, somewhat incongruously, in neo-medieval clothing, a style that had currency in the city during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It served that administrative function for decades before Mayor Lucio Roberto Rosaia, in office from 1993 to 1997, commissioned its restructuring as part of a broader cultural path through the historic centre. The building was renamed in his honour.
From 2000, the Museo Civico del Sigillo opened here with the Capellini donation at its core, and the specialist art-history library followed. In 2024 the library was renamed after Giancarlo Marmori, a critic and writer from La Spezia.
Good to know
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–18:00; closed Mondays. Entry is €3.50. The building is fully wheelchair accessible. On foot from the city centre it's about 15 minutes; La Spezia Centrale station is a short bus ride away on several lines.
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What travellers say about Palazzina delle Arti
Recensioni della mostra permanente sul pittore spezzino Agostino Fossati, ubicata nella Palazzina delle Arti: una settantina di opere, tutte dedicate alla città di La Spezia e al suo golfo nella seconda metà del 1800. Numerosi oli molto pregevoli, in particolare le vedute marine. Fino a Maggio 2021 questi quadri non erano visibili mentre dopo quella data il Comune ha deciso di esporli al pubblico, per fortuna! Visita consigliata!
The permanent exhibition by Agostino Fossati is highly recommended. It offers a unique glimpse into the 19th-century city, enhanced on the upper floor by a fascinating comparison between Fossati's La Spezia and today's La Spezia, featuring extensive photographic panoramas, period maps, and descriptive panels. We were fortunate enough to visit it with Fabio Giacomazzi, one of the exhibition's curators.
Obras belíssimas!!
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