Giorgio Morandi's studio, with his bottles back in place
Photo: Roberto Serra · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Comune di Bologna · source
Why go
Giorgio Morandi spent three decades painting the same few objects, and here you can see them where he left them. In the house at Via Fondazza 36, in a porticoed street between Strada Maggiore and Via Santo Stefano, he lived with his three sisters and worked from 1933 until his death in 1964. The art historian Roberto Longhi called him 'the monk of Via Fondazza', and the quiet of the place explains why.
The house opened to the public on 17 October 2009. The vases, bottles, shells and models he used for his still lifes went back into the studio and the storeroom, arranged as they were in his day, alongside family furniture, household objects and part of his collection of antique art. In 1991 his sister Maria Teresa left the house and his paintings to the city; the paintings hang in the Museo Morandi at MAMbo.
Highlights
The heart of the house is the atelier. The vases, bottles, shells and study models that appear in Morandi's still lifes are back in the studio and the small storeroom beside it, arranged as they were when he worked here. Standing among them, you see how few things he needed and how carefully he chose them.
Morandi lived here with his three sisters from 1933 to 1964, after the family moved from number 38 of the same street. The rooms keep the family's furniture and household objects, and part of Morandi's own collection of antique art, so the visit feels like entering a lived-in home rather than a gallery.
The house also displays part of the large donation that Carlo Zucchini, described by the Comune as the guarantor of the house museum, made to the city of Bologna. It sits alongside the family furniture and the objects of the studio, one more reason the house was able to reopen as Morandi knew it in October 2009.
Beyond the studio, the house keeps a section of documents and photographs and Morandi's personal library of more than 600 volumes, according to the regional heritage catalogue. The restoration by the architect Massimo Iosa Ghini, completed in 2009, uses muted ochre, brown and grey tones, and a multipurpose hall hosts exhibitions, readings and talks.
Practical information
From the official website:
Check current opening hours on the official website before you go.
Check current ticket prices on the official website before you go.
Checked on the official sources in November 2026. Hours can change on holidays: check the official website before you go.
Insider tips
The paintings his sister Maria Teresa left to the city are shown in the Museo Morandi, inside MAMbo at Via Don Minzoni 14. Seeing the objects on Via Fondazza and then the canvases they became makes both visits richer.
Opening times and booking rules could not be confirmed on an official page. Italia.it gives the Musei Civici number +39 051 6496611, the same as MAMbo's, so call before walking to Via Fondazza to make sure the house is open.
Giorgio Morandi, born on 20 July 1890, died on 18 June 1964 and is buried in the Certosa, Bologna's monumental cemetery, according to the regional heritage catalogue. The Certosa porticoes are one of the twelve UNESCO components, so the visit combines art and architecture.
In the centre
Historic-centre restaurants and hotels from the Bologna City Guide, each with its own Holiplanet page.
Historic restaurant
Tortellini in brodo and lasagne verdi since 1909
Discover more →Traditional restaurant
Handmade tortellini and tagliatelle in Bologna since 1948
Discover more →Chef's restaurant
Mario Ferrara's Lucanian-rooted cooking in a 1600s convent
Discover more →Wine bar / osteria
Wine osteria since 1465: bring your own food
Discover more →Hotel
Romantic 3-star hotel in the ancient Quadrilatero
View hotel →Boutique hotel
12th-century building facing San Petronio's Gothic windows
View hotel →Unique stay
Sleep inside a 12th-century tower, sixty metres above Bologna
View hotel →All restaurants on the Bologna map → All hotels on the Bologna map →
Questions
Morandi lived and worked at Via Fondazza 36, a porticoed street between Strada Maggiore and Via Santo Stefano, from 1933 until his death in 1964, together with his three sisters. Earlier the family had lived at number 38 of the same street. The house opened to the public as Casa Morandi in 2009.
You see the studio and storeroom with the vases, bottles, shells and study models from his still lifes, arranged as when he worked there, plus family furniture, household objects, part of Morandi's collection of antique art and part of the donation made to the city by Carlo Zucchini.
The architect Massimo Iosa Ghini, whose work was completed in 2009, according to the regional heritage catalogue. The apartment, which the Comune di Bologna bought in 1999, keeps Morandi's objects in their places in the studio and storeroom, together with documents, photographs and a library of more than 600 volumes.
