Collezione Burri – Palazzo Albizzini & Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco
Città di Castello is the birthplace of Alberto Burri, one of the 20th century's most radical artists, and the two-venue foundation dedicated to him is among the most important contemporary art museums in Italy. Walking from the elegant Palazzo Albizzini to the vast converted tobacco-drying sheds on the edge of town feels like a pilgrimage through a single, obsessive genius.
Two buildings, one vision
Palazzo Albizzini, a 15th-century mansion in the heart of the old town, houses Burri's earlier works including his famous Sacchi – hessian sacks stitched and stained into raw, aching beauty. The rooms are intimate, forcing you nose-to-canvas with surfaces that feel more like wounds than paintings.
The Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco on Via Pierucci is a completely different beast: five enormous industrial halls that Burri himself designed the installation for before his death in 1995. The Cicli – Cretto, Combustione, Ferro, Legno, Nero – hang in near-darkness, each cycle in its own cathedral-scale room.
Planning your visit
Allow at least two hours across both venues; they are a 15-minute walk apart and a combined ticket covers both. The Seccatoi is closed on Mondays and the lighting inside is deliberately dim, so let your eyes adjust before rushing through.
Burri's Cretto di Gibellina, the massive land-art piece he created over the ruins of an earthquake-destroyed Sicilian town, is impossible to visit on a day trip, making the Seccatoi the best place on earth to understand the full arc of his work.
Collezione Burri – Palazzo Albizzini & Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco on video
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