The Gallerie dell’Accademia is a museum site in the city of Venice, which houses a large collection of works from the 14th to the 18th century by important 20th-century artists. There are also sculptures and drawings here, including the famous Vitruvian Man drawn in pen and ink by Leonardo da Vinci. This museum was opened by the Accademia delle Belle Arti in 1817 and was part of a complex that also included the Church of Santa Maria della Carità, its convent and the Scuola Grande.
From the very beginning, the Accademia housed works of art to support its students’ studies or to carry out restoration work. The first core of works exhibited in 1817 consisted mainly of students’ creations and a small selection of plaster casts, but over time the collection expanded with bequests, donations and acquisitions. During the French rule, the Accademia also collected several works from monasteries and convents that had been suppressed.
It was not until the end of the 19th century that the separation between the Accademia and the museum began thanks to a project to reorganise the picture gallery , which required the expansion of the exhibition area. As time went by, the increasing number of works meant that major renovation work was carried out on the Church of Santa Maria della Carità, which thus lost its role as a religious building to become a museum site.
The Gallerie dell‘Accademia currently has 37 rooms housing more than eight hundred works relating to Italian painting and in particular Venetian painting relating to the period between the 14th and 18th centuries. The itinerary stretches over two floors: the ground floor houses works from the 17th to the 19th century, while the first floor displays creations from the 14th to the 17th century. Visitors can thus admire famous masterpieces such as Giorgione’s The Tempest, Titian’s La Pietà, Carpaccio’s The Stories of St. Ursula and Veronese’s The Banquet in the House of Levi.
Also on display are works by artists such as Bellini, Piero della Francesca and Tintoretto. In addition to these are masterpieces by other 17th century landscape artists such as Longhi, Canaletto and Guardi. Among the most important works in the museum is also the famous Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing made around 1490 is kept in the Drawings and Prints Cabinet of the Gallerie dell’Accademia and is only exhibited on special occasions.
The Church of Santa Maria della Carità was built in the 12th century, together with the convent of the Canonici Lateranensi. In the 15th century, thanks to financial support obtained from the Venetian Pope Eugene IV, the church was largely rebuilt in Gothic style to a design by architect Bartolomeo Bon. In the 16th century, Andrea Palladio was called in to carry out major extension work on the convent, but unfortunately his project never came to fruition. Over the following centuries, the complex lost more and more importance until in 1768 the order of the Lateran Canons was finally suppressed and the church closed.
At the end of the 19th century, therefore, the abandoned church and convent were renovated to house the Accademia Galleries. The restoration project envisaged five large rooms on the lower floor for the school, while in the upper floor an exhibition area was created for the works that were already in the possession of the Accademia. Over time, the Academy of Fine Arts also left this historic location and moved to the former Incurabili Hospital complex, so the entire building was used for the exhibition of artistic works. Here one can now admire paintings by important Veneto artists such as Tintoretto, Titian, Canaletto, Giorgione, Giovanni Bellini, Cima da Conegliano and Veronese.
The Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice are open at the following times
The cost of tickets to access the Accademia Galleries is as follows:
The Gallerie dell’Accademia are located near the Accademia Bridge and can be easily reached either on foot or by water bus. From Piazzale Roma or from the Venezia Santa Lucia railway station you can reach the Gallerie by walking for about twenty minutes following the signs for “Ponte dell’Accademia”. Those who prefer to travel by vaporetto can take line no. 1 or no. 2 in the direction of Lido to the Accademia stop.
The Accademia Galleries are located in the Dorsoduro sestiere along the Grand Canal at the foot of the Accademia Bridge.
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