Palazzo Mazzetti: a museum of itself and of the Asti culture.
People have always known that it was one of the most beautiful buildings in Asti. Time had turned it into a building full of art, but lacking any appeal and a privilege for a few connoisseurs. It took all the commitment of a Banking Foundation and the sensitivity of a few women to bring Palazzo Mazzetti back to its present splendour. The feminine touch can be felt immediately as you cross the threshold; you only have to look up to realise that those chandeliers are the result of a gentle choice, as is the arrangement of the furniture and works along the way. To give a warm welcome to the guests in the great hall of honour there could only be a woman: La Femme by Giacomo Grosso is a large canvas dominated by the picture of an elegant lady dressed in satin who seems to be welcoming all visitors. We like to think that it was Josephine of Beauharnais who suggested to her husband Napoleon I to stop in Asti, and stay in the splendid residence of the rich Mazzetti family and to open, in that distant spring of 1805, the Asti celebrations from that little balcony overlooking Corso Alfieri.
A rich civic collection, stucco, textiles, frescoes and an underground path.
A large atrium and on the left a grand staircase leads to the main floor to embark on a journey through the civic collections that have found their home in rooms decorated with 17th-century stucco, frescoed ceilings and gilded carvings. A series of impressive rooms such as the Alcove, the Zodiac Room, the Mazzetti Gallery and the Coat of Arms Gallery, where a large painting by Ottavio Baussano reminds visitors of the magnificence of Asti in the Middle Ages. A series of lounges where important paintings on canvas, portraits, oriental artefacts, textiles and the precious and highly refined microsculptures of Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, guide you through the historical moments that have marked life within and outside the walls of this city.
An ancient residence that narrates and delivers beauty.
Didactic spaces, bookshops, conference rooms, libraries, an elegant cafeteria and then a series of temporary exhibitions of the highest level that have brought Etruscan art, the art of Chagall, the Impressionists and many other beautiful works within the walls of the Mazzetti Court.
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