Museo di Palazzo Poggi

The University puts on a dazzling display of art and science in its former home, Palazzo Poggi (1549-60, though some parts are a century older). One of the grandest palaces in Bologna, is the work of Bartolomeo Triachini and completed just when family boss Giovanni Poggi was made cardinal nuncio to Spain, the pope's ambassador to Emperor Charles V. His position supplied the cash to make the Poggi digs into a showcase of late Renaissance Mannerist art, hiring two of the best artists of the day, Pellegrino Tibaldi and Nicolò dell’Abate.

Poggi's tastes tended more towards mythology and Renaissance humanism than religious themes. The cardinal's ground floor studio is adorned with Pellegrino Tibaldi’s witty frescoes on the Story of Ulysses (1549), an early and influential example of Mannerist illusionistic quadratura ceiling painting that was closely studied by the students of the Carracci Academy and inspired Annibale's great fresco cycle in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. Elegant scenes of banqueting and concerts by Nicolò dell’Abate, and others on religious themes by Prospero Fontana adorn the piano nobile, or first floor.

The Istituto delle Scienze and University