Palazzo del Merenda The Building The building, designed by Giuseppe Merenda and originally serving as a hospital, was completed in 1722. Upon Merenda’s death, the original project was altered slightly and only three of the four planned internal courtyards were constructed, in addition to large stairway by Raimondo Compagnoni. The current façade dates to 1827 and was designed by Giuseppe Pani. In 1848, engineer Giuseppe Cantoni expanded the structure, designating an area to the “exposed” (orphans) and another to hydrotherapy. In 1922, the building changed when it became the headquarters of the cultural institutes, following the construction of a new hospital building. The Collections A year after hosting the Esposizioni Romagnole Riunite (“United Romagna Exhibitions”) in 1921, the building became the permanent base of the cultural institutes: namely, the Aurelio Saffi Library, the Melozzo degli Ambrogi Civic Art Gallery, the Benedetto Pergoli Ethnographic Museum, and the Albicini Armoury. The evocative central hall is embellished with grandiose 17th and 18th-century paintings by Guercino, Cagnacci, Cignani and Maratta. One of the hall wings is home to the Piancastelli Painting Collection, a collection of Romagna paintings spanning the 16th century to the dawn of Mannerism, including works by Palmezzano, Luca Longhi, Innocenzo da Imola and Sebastiano Menzocchi. We would like to inform visitors that Palazzo del Merenda is currently not open for visits as major renovation work is underway. In the meantime, five outstanding works from our civic collections are exposed in the Exhibition ‘Guercino, a new look’ - Cento (FE). We invite you to discover these masterpieces and other art treasures by visiting the page dedicated to the Exhibition at the following link: Guercino, un nuovo sguardo – Cento (FE) More info here
