Accademia Carrara

One of northern Italy's finest art museums in Bergamo – paintings from Bellini to Raphael, founded in 1780 as a citizen's gift to the city.

The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo is one of the most significant art museums in northern Italy, founded around 1780 by collector and connoisseur Giacomo Carrara. The collection holds around 1,800 works ranging from Bellini, Botticelli, Raphael, and Titian to Venetian and Lombard masters of the 15th through 19th centuries. Notably, Carrara bequeathed his entire collection to the city of Bergamo – an exceptional act of civic patronage for the 18th century. The complex also houses an art academy, now merged with the local conservatory to form Bergamo's new arts university. The neoclassical building is in the lower city, close to the historic walls of the Città Alta.