Abitare il Rinascimento

Arredi domestici a Siena dal XV secolo all’epoca della Maniera

Edited by Laura Bonelli and Marilena Caciorgna

PALAZZO DELLE PAPESSE

22 May - 1 November 2026

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Through more than eighty works, this volume documents the prolific output of domestic art that flourished in Siena between the 15th and 16th centuries, tracing the artistic development of the Sienese school and its highly skilled workshops (including those of Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Benvenuto di Giovanni, Bernardino Fungai, Girolamo del Pacchia, Domenico Beccafumi and Brescianino). 

Furnishings such as chests, backrests, daybeds, headboards, textiles and household furnishings take centre stage in an exhibition that aims to convey the richness and variety of a figurative culture intended to adorn living spaces and capable of depicting scenes inspired by ancient sources whilst integrating modern perspectives.

‘Abitare il Rinascimento ' (Living the Renaissance) does not, in fact, refer solely to the domestic sphere, to the paintings and furnishings that adorn it, but also to the underlying messages—from the virtues of love to moral and ethical values, and from political to philosophical ideas. 

These are objects that, once an integral part of the furnishings of noble residences, are now scattered and preserved in Italian and foreign museums, where they are not always immediately recognisable in their original function: the scholars who curated the catalogue and the exhibition, Laura Bonelli and Marilena Caciorgna, therefore sought to recreate the domestic setting for which they were designed, restoring them, as far as possible, to their original function.