Italy Guide
Marche
Musei Civici
Address: Piazza Toschi Mosca 29
Opening time: July & Aug Wed & Fri– Sun 9.30am–12.30pm & 4–7pm, Tues & Thurs 9.30am–12.30pm & 4–10.30pm; Sept– June Tues & Wed 9.30am–12.30pm, Thurs– Sun 9.30am–12.30pm & 4–7pm
Website: www.museicivicipesaro.it
Price: €4
The most significant relic of Renaissance Pésaro is Giovanni Bellini's magnificent Coronation of the Virgin polyptych, housed in the Pinacoteca of the Musei Civici. Painted in the 1470s, the altarpiece situates the coronation not in some starry heaven but in the countryside around Pésaro, dominated by the castle of Gradara. Portraits of saints flank the central scene, ranging from the hesitant St Lawrence to the dreamy St Anthony, and below are a nativity and scenes from the saints' lives. The complex also contains the Museo delle Ceramiche. Renaissance Pésaro was famous for its ceramics, and the museum houses a fine collection – ranging from a Madonna and Child surrounded by pine cones, lemons and bilberries from the workshop of Andrea della Robbia, to plates decorated with an Arabian bandit.