Palazzo Albizzini, located in the historic centre of Città di Castello, is a restrained and elegant 15th-century Renaissance building. Inside, however, it houses one of the most radical, powerful and fascinating collections of 20th-century contemporary art.

A long history of art

 Palazzo Albizzini was built in the late 15th century in the simple, understated style of the Florentine Renaissance. The Albizzini family, whose members played a prominent role in the history of the city, is documented as far back as the 14th century. Patrons and art lovers, they commissioned Raphael’s The Marriage of the Virgin for their altar in the Church of San Francesco, a masterpiece now housed at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.

Alberto Burri himself chose Palazzo Albizzini as the ideal home for his permanent collection. Purchased by the Cassa di Risparmio in 1978, the building underwent careful restoration before being granted for use to the ‘Alberto Burri’ Foundation. The museum was subsequently opened to the public in 1981.

An extraordinary architectural contrast

The first thing that strikes visitors about Palazzo Albizzini is its remarkable visual “short circuit.” Stepping through the doorway of this historic noble residence, one might expect to find traditional frescoes or period furnishings. Instead, the display – meticulously curated by Alberto Burri himself – creates a striking contrast: the clean, restrained Renaissance architecture provides the ideal setting for the bold, rough and distinctly modern materiality of the Città di Castello-born artist. The white-plastered rooms become an almost sacred space, where the works engage in a seamless dialogue with the volumes and proportions of the past.

The collection: a journey through matter

The palace houses around 130 works by the artist (1915–1995), dating from 1948 to 1989 and spanning painting, sculpture, graphic art and set design, arranged chronologically across twenty rooms. Spread over two floors, the exhibition traces Burri’s entire artistic career, from his early works to his more complex abstract compositions, in which matter itself—often torn and distressed—becomes a work of art in its own right.

Along the exhibition route, you can closely follow the evolution of Burri’s artistic research:

• Tars and Moulds: his early post-war experiments, dark, layered and rich in visual associations.
• Sacks: the celebrated works made from patched, torn and stretched jute sacks that brought Burri international recognition.
• Woods and Irons: fire-scorched surfaces and welded metal sheets that explore the marks of time and transformation.
• Plastics: thin layers of PVC shaped and melted with a blowtorch, creating a hypnotic interplay of transparency, voids and folds.
• Cracks: surfaces reminiscent of earth parched by drought, where fissures are transformed into carefully controlled geometric patterns.

You will notice that there are no intrusive explanatory labels beside the works. This was a deliberate choice by the artist, intended to allow visitors a direct, intimate and unmediated encounter with the material itself.

The full experience

The Burri Foundation extends beyond Palazzo Albizzini. To fully appreciate the monumental scale of the artist’s work, we also recommend visiting its second venue, the Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco. Located a short distance away, these vast former industrial buildings house Burri’s large-scale pictorial cycles, displayed in an almost sacred atmosphere.