Cartina MUSEI1_INGL.indd

Pinacoteca
Cantonale
G. Züst
m.a.x.Museo
Museo
Casa Pessina
Founded in 1982 in a former
monastery, the Mendrisio Museum of Art offers exhibitions dedicated to the great 20th century
masters. As a reference institution for the region, the Museum
regularly organises study exhibitions and produces publications
on the arts and on the history of
the region. Benefiting from some
significant donations, the Mendrisio Museum of Art boasts an
important collection of painting,
sculpture and works on paper
ranging from the 16th to the 20th
century, which document many
aspects of local art history.
Set amidst an enchanting countryside, the old Servite monastery which houses the Museum
is included in the category of
monuments of national interest
due to its historical and architectural interest. The church of San
Giovanni, with its richly decorated interior, and the Oratory of the
Madonna delle Grazie, with a rare
14th century lunette, were built
close to the atmospheric arched
cloister (16th–17th century).
Villa Vela, the home of the museum
today run by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, was donated with its
collections to the Swiss Confederation in 1892 by the painter Spartaco
Vela (1854-95), son of the better
known Vincenzo Vela. One of the
greatest European sculptors of the
19th century, Vincenzo Vela was
a leading exponent of the realist
school of sculpture. He was born in
the village of Ligornetto in 1820 and
died there in 1891. The villa was officially designated the “Museo Vela”
in 1898. In doing so it became the
second federal museum and the
first museum in Ticino. Conceived
by Vincenzo Vela to be a “housecum-museum”, construction of the
villa began in 1862. It was designed
by Cipriano Ajmetti and completed
in 1865.
Set in a large park open to the public and divided into three separate
landscaped areas, Villa Vela is considered one of the most important
artist’s houses in Switzerland and
one of the most significant in Europe. Between 1997 and 2001 the
building was renovated by the architect Mario Botta.
The Giovanni Züst Cantonal Art Gallery exhibits the work of artists from
the 17th to the 20th century, native
of the regions which in 1803 formed
the Canton Ticino. The Art Gallery
summons works collected by Giovanni Züst (Basel,1887 – Rancate,
1976) and donated to the State of
Canton Ticino in 1966.
The highlights of the Züst Gallery are
works by Giovanni Serodine (16001630) and Giuseppe Antonio Petrini
(1677-1758/59).
Giovanni Serodine’s “San Pietro in
carcere” is considered one of the
best paintings of the Italian 16th
century.
Nonetheless the Züst Gallery is
strongly attached to its routs and to
the Mendrisiotto in particular, due to
the presence of a great number of
works (96 paintings and 246 drawings) by the local painter Antonio
Rinaldi of Tremona (1816-1875).
The aim of Gallery Züst is to value
its collection. This in fact is always
open to public, together with temporary exhibitions dedicated to artists native from Canton Ticino and
Lombardy between the 17th and
the 20th century.
The m.a.x.museo was established
on the 12th of November 2005 by
the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, with the aim of spreading
the culture of graphic design and
leaving trace of Max Huber’s work
to posterity.
The structure of the building is clean
and simple, in tune with Huber’s
sensitivity, who thus influenced the
urban landscape of his native Switzerland.
The m.a.x.museo shows Max Huber’s graphic works and paintings
in a permanent collection, while
hosting temporary exhibitions and
organizes didactic activities.
Students from the ex-Macconi
school have been working for some
time on the second floor in some
rooms which closely resemble artists’ studios.
An important legacy, part of the
Pessina Library, is also kept here.
Piazza S.Giovanni | 6850 Mendrisio
museo@mendrisio.ch
www.mendrisio.ch
T +41 (0)91 646 76 49
Largo Vela | 6853 Ligornetto
museo.vela@bak.admin.ch
www.museo-vela.ch
T +41 (0)91 640 70 40/44
Via Züst | 6862 Rancate
decs-pinacoteca.zuest@ti.ch
www.ti.ch/zuest
T +41 (0)91 646 45 65
Via Dante Alighieri 6 | 6830 Chiasso
info@maxmuseo.ch
www.maxmuseo.ch
T +41 (0)91 682 56 56
Tue-Fri
10.00-12.00 | 14.00-17.00
Sat-Sun
10.00-17.00
Only open during temporary exhibitions
March-May | October-November
Tue-Sat
10.00-17.00
Sun
10.00-18.00
June-September | Tue-Sun 10.00-18.00
Tue-Sun | Mon close, except holy-day
March-June | September-November
9.00-12.00 | 14.00-17.00
July-August
14.00-18.00
Wed-Sun
August close
Full price
Reduced price
Full price
Reduced price
Full price
Reduced price
CHF 8.CHF 5.-
CHF 10.CHF 6.-
CHF 8.- / 6.CHF 6.- / 4.-
This museum aims at acting as a
bridge towards young designers
and artists of future generations
through various exhibitions, while
conveying the message of Max
Huber, who dedicated his life to design.
We plan to organize exhibitions primarily on graphic design, in order to
present “design” in general to the
world.
Full price
Reduced price
10.00-12.00 | 15.00-18.00
CHF 8.CHF 5.-
Museo
dei fossili
Museo
Etnografico
Valle di Muggio
Museo
della Civiltà
Contadina
Galleria
Baumgartner
The Fossil Museum is located in the
centre of Meride. It shows authentic
fossils but also some moulds and illustrations of reptiles, fishes and invertebrates, which lived in the area
of Monte San Giorgio during Middle
Triassic Period.
Illustrations describe the fossil excavation activity.
The exhibited specimens have
been chosen among thousands
of other fossils found in the Triassic rocks of Monte San Giorgio and
are of absolute scientific value. For
this reason, in 2003, the mountain
has been included in the UNESCO
World Heritage List.
The rock layers of Monte San Giorgio, in fact, yield perfectly preserved
fossils of organisms which more
than 230 million years ago dwelled
in the sea which covered this area.
The water was inhabited by many
fishes: a very interesting one was
Saurichthys, a large predator very
similar to the modern barracuda.
Reptiles were also common: the
most famous are Ceresiosaurus,
about 2,5m long, and Tanistropheus, whose very long neck resemble that of a giraffe.
The Muggio Valley is an area with
special features of historical, artistic and ethnographic importance,
and environmental and naturalistic
significance.
There are many ethnographic signs
of the past in the territory: nevère
(stone structures filled with snow
and used to preserve milk before it
was transformed), roccoli (complex
systems used to capture migratory
birds with nets - photo), graa (chestnut roasting structures), bolle (manmade ponds), fontane (fountains),
cisterne (cisterns), ponti (bridges),
carbonaie (charcoal piles), sostre
(cattle shelters), mulini (mills). The
Ethnographic Museum is committed to increasing the value of this
wealth and conserving it by bringing
a museum into being which is not
confined to a building, but which
draws on elements of cultural and
landscape interest, to be found in
the valley, keeping them in their environmental context.
With its exhibitions and documentation, Casa Cantoni, the Information Centre, encourages the visitor
to seek and find these objects in the
area.
The museum, which was opened
to the public in 1981, is in the 19th
century building in Via al Castello,
the narrow road which climbs up
the hill from Piazza Maggiore; there
was once a castle or a tower here.
On the ground floor the museum
shows the history of mankind from
his origins to the invention of agriculture, and exhibits means of
transport and wheelwright’s tools.
The first floor is designated for annual thematic exhibitions and hosts
a collection of damaging butterflies.
The second floor hosts the collection of traps, leghold traps and
snares used to capture furry animals and birds as well as a collection of stable equipment and cobblers’ tables.
In the other rooms are displayed
the equipment for various activities
in the rural world, as well as cutting
tools: harnesses for horses, mules
and oxen and objects for hand
transport: wheelbarrows, baskets;
tools for working the soil: ploughs,
spades, forks, harrows, rakes, winnowing fans...
The Baumgartner Gallery exhibits
something like 8’000 railway models, dioramas, layouts as well as
ship and motor car models.
Via Pessina | 6853 Ligornetto
comune@ligornetto.ch
www.ligornetto.ch
T +41 (0)91 647 15 75
Village Center | 6866 Meride
info@montesangiorgio.ch
www.montesangiorgio.ch
T +41 (0)91 646 37 80
Casa Cantoni | 6838 Cabbio
info@mevm.ch
www.mevm.ch
T +41 (0)91 690 20 38
Via al Castello | 6855 Stabio
mucico@bluewin.ch
www.stabio.ch
T +41 (0)91 641 69 90
Via S.Franscini 24 | 6850 Mendrisio
info@galleriabaumgartner.ch
www.galleriabaumgartner.ch
T +41 (0)91 640 04 00
Thu-Sat
17.00-19.00
Sun
14.00-18.00
Only open during temporary exhibitions
Mon-Sun
Casa Pessina was donated to the
Municipality of Ligornetto by Mrs.
Bianca Pessina in memory of her
brother, the sculptor and painter
Apollonio, author of several important works of art, among which the
monument in memory of the “Battaglia dei sassi grossi di Giornico”.
It was renovated and transformed
into a House of Culture over a period of more than twenty years.
On the ground floor a beautiful
room can host lectures, concerts,
receptions... using the adjoining,
interesting outside space. On the
first floor, as well as the four rooms
where the most important works
of Pessina are shown, divided into
his main production periods, there
is also the large room, where temporary exhibitions of local artists are
organised.
Free entry
8.00-18.00
Free entry
In 2008 the museum will be completely
restored.
March-October
Tue-Sun
14.00-17.00
Full price
Reduced price
Families
CHF 5.CHF 3.CHF 10.-
Tue, Thu, Sat-Sun
14.00-17.00
Full price
Reduced price
Groups
CHF 5.CHF 3.CHF 4.-/2.-
Model railways in the scales IIm, I, 0,
H0, N and Z run on several layouts,
all operated by solar energy.
An important part of the exhibition is
devoted to Tin Plate trains amongst
which the oldest Märklin model built
in 1891 as well as the famous 1933
“Crocodile” can be seen.
Railway motives from around the
world enrich the Postal Stamp and
Historic Titles Collection.
Furthermore, a valuable collection
of Petroleum Company Shares can
also be admired.
Model railway manufacturers such
as Märklin, Hag, LGB and Lemaco
present their novelties.
A shop is at your disposal.
Tue-Fri
Sat-Sun
Full price
Reduced price
9.30-12.00 | 13.30-17.30
9.30-17.30
CHF 12.CHF 6.-
Accademia
d’architettura
di Mendrisio
Cinema Teatro
Spazio Officina
The Accademia di architettura dell’Università della Svizzera italiana
provides best higher education,
together with a rich cultural range
of publications, lectures and exhibitions open to all, offeres on its campus in Mendrisio.
Galleria dell’Accademia
Located in the Palazzo Canavée,
the gallery hosts exhibitions produced by the Academy, also in collaboration with some international
schools. Its programme includes
cycles of exhibitions of architecture, urban planning and art, as well
as events featuring works by the
architect-teachers at the Academy
itself or by its students.
Archivio del Moderno
The institute works closely with the
Academy and complements its
teaching activities. It holds archive
collections and iconographic documents on architects, designers
and photographers.
It catalogues, arranges and provides online access to its archives,
also through academic collaborations with international institutions.
It promotes research, conferences,
exhibitions and publications.
The Cinema Teatro was built in
1935, the work of the architect
Americo Marazzi, who drew inspiration from classicism and 20th
century rationalism; it was decorated by the painter Carlo Basilico.
It was brought to life again in September 2001, establishing itself as
an extremely active and innovative
theatre centre. The artistic choices
are oriented towards overcoming
the dualism between avant-garde
and tradition, tending towards national and international emerging
forms of expression, which are more
interesting than interdisciplinary research; the choices include all the
performing arts.
Spazio Officina
Since 2005 the renovated space of
an old workshop (designed by the
architects Durisch and Nolli) has
become an extraordinary multipurpose building. It is situated right in
front of the Teatro, only a few meters
from Corso S.Gottardo, the main
street in town.
The Spazio Officina and the Cinema
Teatro are located in a border area;
due to their location they attract public both from Ticino and Lombardy.
Accademia di architettura - USI
Largo Bernasconi 2 | 6850 Mendrisio
Archivio del Moderno
Via Lavizzari 2 | 6850 Mendrisio
info@arch.unisi.ch
www.arch.unisi.ch
T +41 (0)58 666 50 00/55 00
Via Dante Alighieri 3b | 6830 Chiasso
cultura@chiasso.ch
www.chiasso.ch
T +41 (0)91 695 09 14
Tue-Sun
Free entry
13.00-18.00
Advance sale of tickets
Cinema Teatro, Chiasso
Wed-Sat
17.00-19.30
Mendrisiotto Tourism
Mon-Fri
9.00-12.00 | 14.00-18.00
Sat
9.00-12.00
First | second seats
CHF 30.- / 25.-
Cu lt u ra
Museo Vela
Cultura,
Musei
della regione
Museo d’Arte
Graphic design:
ETMBC
Texts:
Francesco Mismirigo
Museums
Photos:
Tourism Office
Museums
Giovanni Luisoni
San Gottardo
Lugano
Local Tourist Office
Viewpoint
Academy of Architecture
Mendrisio
Lago
di Lugano
Theatre
Mendrisiotto and Basso Ceresio
Mendrisiotto and Basso Ceresio
Museum
Cultural insights
Pugerna
A Region to be discovered!
Open-air swimming pool
Indoor swimming pool
Cantone
Ticino
International Tourist Railway
Nature | Culture | Gastronomy
Railway
Sighignola
Boat
Arogno
Rack railway
12
Cableway
Bissone
Airport
Lago
di Lugano
Nature parks
1 Parco delle Gole della Breggia
2 Collina del Penz
3 Parco Valle della Motta
4 Riserva Pre Murin
Maroggia Rovio
11
Some cultural heritage
1 Baptistery San Vitale
2 Church Santa Croce
3 Church San Silvestro
4 Archaeological digs
5 Marble quarries
6 Church San Sisinio alla Torre
Church San Giovanni
Church San Martino
7 Mill
8 Episcopal house
9 Church San Giorgio
10 Church SanPietro or Red Church
11 Church San Vigilio
12 Church Santo Stefano
Brusino Arsizio
Nature | Culture | Gastronomy
Melano
Scudellate
Roncapiano
Serpiano
Bellavista
Monte S. Giorgio
Riva S. Vitale
UNESCO
World Heritage
1- 2
Muggio
Cabbio
Capolago
Nature | Culture | Gastronomy
Cragno
Theme paths for Merlot 06
1 Mendrisio – Castel San Pietro
Man and the grapevine
2 Seseglio – Pedrinate
The viticultural techniques
3 Rancate – Besazio – Stabio
Viticulture and the territory
Meride
Casima
3
S. Nicolao
Poncione d’Arzo
Tremona
Arzo
4
5
Rancate
Stabio
Bellinzona
Baptistery
Riva San Vitale
1
Castel S. Pietro
10
Morbio Sup.
Sagno
Morbio Inf.
Coldrerio
S. Pietro
3
Genestrerio
7- 9
7
Balerna
Novazzano
Chiasso
Lugano
Varese
Como
Mendrisiotto
e Basso Ceresio
Varese
Malpensa
Lago
di Como
Seseglio
2
Pedrinate
trees, by intense green in Summer
and bright colours in Autumn– surround villages which hide real artistic and architectonic treasures,
like the Züst Cantonal Art Gallery in
Rancate, Casa Cantoni in Muggio,
the Pollini and Torriani mansions
in Mendrisio, the Romanesque
church of Santa Agata in Tremona,
the Paleochristian Baptistery in
Riva San Vitale, the Vela Museum
in Ligornetto, the Fossil Museum in
Meride, the 18th century loggia of
the Allio House in Arzo, the Servite
Cloister and Art Museum in Mendrisio, the villas in Brusata and Loverciano, the farms of Mezzana and
the Villas of Puccini and Leoncavallo in Vacallo or the family homes
of famous contemporary architects
like Tita Carloni, Ivano Gianola and
Mario Botta, which offer a kind of
ideal dwelling model for a class of
cultured people.
the walls of the neo-classical Villa
Turconi, which has been rendered
less severe by a huge multicoloured
bird, the work of the sculptor Niki de
Saint-Phalle.
The cultural dynamism of the region
is made evident by the numerous
open-air summer events and from
the programme of the Cinema Teatro in Chiasso, which is an architectonic jewel dating to 1935, recently
restored. It hosts not only prose
and cinema, but also contemporary
dance and music.
Next to this active cultural laboratory, which is relaunching the image of
Chiasso, an original artistic pole has
been created: the new, avant-garde
m.a.x.museo, dedicated mainly to
graphics, design, photography and
videoart, as well as the Spazio Officina.
The Mendrisiotto and Basso Ceresio Region also offers the attentive
visitor great simplicity and vernacular art, which can be found in the
numerous churches and chapels,
in the nevère, in the potters’ boutiques, in the kilns and artistic foundries which complete the rich offer.
Together they make this land a true
place devoted to culture!
Cultura,
Cultura
& Musei
Musei
della regio
della regione
www.mendrisiottotourism.ch
Cultura,
& Musei
Bruzella Mill
della regione
Cu lt ura
&Mu se i
Festate
Chiasso
Cultura,
& Mus
Archaeological digs
Tremona
della regione
Cultura,
E
L
P
V
M
M
T
T
P
O
P
In
F
In
F
R
B
B
T
R
F
C
A
A
P
N
1
2
3
4
A
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Como
Milano
Cu lt u ra
&Mu se i
But the bucolic landscape tinted
with nostalgia should not make us
forget that this land is extremely
modern and dynamic and is an
important area for the European
culture thanks to the Academy of
Architecture in Mendriso, a cosmopolitan and humanistic centre where
students can meet international
celebrities like Zaha Hadid, Franck
Gehry and Massimo Cacciari inside
Vacallo
8
Mendrisio
Chiasso
The hills of the Mendrisiotto and
Basso Ceresio –dotted with olive
trees and covered by vineyards, by
thick woods of chestnut and beech
Caneggio
Salorino
6
Monte Bisbino
The Mendrisiotto and Basso Ceresio has hosted well-known artists,
painters, sculptors and architects
for centuries; the famous architects Francesco Borromini, Carlo
Fontana and Carlo Maderno who
worked in Rome; Baldassarre Lon-
Those who love to discover a region
by walking, will find precious treasures, to be enjoyed with respect
and in peace; in the Muggio Valley
they will also find an exceptional
Museum in the territory.
Church Santo Stefano
Arogno
Ente Turistico
del Mendrisiotto e Basso Ceresio
Biasca
Campora
7
As in those days, this is still a land
of stimuli today. There are few European regions which can offer a territory so rich in artistic testimony in so
few square kilometres.
Cultura,
Musei
della regione
Via L. Lavizzari 2 | CH - 6850 Mendrisio
T +41 91 641 30 50 | F +41 91 641 30 59
Ligornetto
Gottardo
Somazzo
Mendrisio
Bruzella
Monte
What were those young artists
seeking when they moved from Basel to the Mendrisiotto around 1925
with sudden enthusiasm?
Their names led to the creative experience of the group “Rot-Blau”,
whose distinctive feature is chromatic expressiveness.
In those days the Mendrisiotto was
a poor, farming area where those
young artists found a natural and
human landscape with strong, vibrant colours and warm, “Lombard”
light. To them the Mendrisiotto and
Basso Ceresio was an inexhaustible source of uncontaminated inspiration and artistic stimuli.
ghena, who was famous in Venice;
the Masters from Campione who
worked in France, Russia and Poland, and Mario Botta; sculptors
such as Vincenzo Vela and Apollonio Pessina, Remo Rossi and Ivo
Soldini; the writers Francesco Chiesa and Alberto Nessi; the naturalist Luigi Lavizzari and many young
local painters, sculptors, writers,
photographers and musicians, who
contribute to making the artistic life
of this region very interesting; a region which, by tradition, is a cultural
bridge between the important artistic poles of Milan, Zurich and Basel.
Many Swiss and foreign artists have
been guests in this Swiss Lombardy; at random we can mention
Petra Weiss, Giacomo Puccini,
Gerhart Hauptmann or the heroes
of the Italian Risorgimento.
info@mendrisiottotourism.ch
www.mendrisiottotourism.ch
Besazio
Locarno
Monte Generoso
Art and Artists
in the Mendrisiotto