CAMeC. Modern and Contemporary Art Centre

Located in piazza Cesare Battisti, the Modern and Contemporary Art Centre houses works originating both from civic historical collections and from art collections donated by Giorgio Cozzani and Ferruccio Battolini to La Spezia city council. The Civic Collections comprise about seven hundred paintings, centred around the fundamental nucleus of 19th century pictorial documents mainly by Fossati, Valle and Pontremoli, not exhibited here, refined landscape painters in the second half of the century, attentive to the growing historical importance of the city and its territory; also works from the Premio del Golfo award, an institution set up by Marinetti in 1933 and then successfully taken up again between 1949 and 1965 and once again as from 2000. The major figures in the story of Italian art competed for this award, with heated discussions between supporters of abstract expressionism and figurative art which took on so much importance in the immediate post-war period.
On the other hand the Cozzani collection includes about nine hundred works, paintings, drawings and graphic art, particularly focused on expressionism and historical avant-garde movements, up until the new trends. The dialogue necessarily set up between the two groups of collections was therefore essential, reciprocally integrating the visual tour starting from the second half of the 19th century to achieve visual poetry and conceptual art in general. The art critic Ferruccio Battolini also donated his collection of contemporary artists comprising about five hundred works in addition to the already prestigious collections. This is another significant chapter going to add to the civic and Cozzani collections and, accompanied by an important section with archives and books, is a true cross-section of 20th century art criticism.
Apart from the permanent collections also exhibited in rotation, the museum also holds important exhibitions and meetings, “sleepless port” becoming a great contemporary artistic workshop, open to temporary exhibitions, lessons, local restoration works, meetings and in-depth studies.