Alongside the masterpieces housed in its galleries, Accademia Carrara offers an additional highlight: the PwC Gardens, a new shared space where art and nature meet, giving the public and the city a unique green oasis in the heart of Bergamo.
THE PwC GARDENS
Art, nature, taste and architecture come together in the PwC Gardens, Accademia Carrara’s 3,000-square-metre green space. This new urban oasis in the heart of Bergamo features a romantic park, a connecting walkway between the museum and the city, and the new Bù Bistrot in Carrara – spaces where the museum’s present engages in dialogue with its past.
THE HISTORY OF THE GARDENS
The history of the green space adjacent to Accademia Carrara is closely intertwined with that of the museum itself. It begins around 1775, when Giacomo Carrara purchased a building in Borgo San Tomaso, accompanied by a kitchen garden that extended as far as the Venetian walls.
The building, refurbished by Carrara with the assistance of architect Giovan Battista Gallizioli, soon proved inadequate for the needs of both the museum and the academy. As a result, in 1802 a decision was made to expand it. A design competition was announced and, in 1804, won by the Bergamo-born architect Simone Elia, who was commissioned to construct the neoclassical building that still houses the museum today.
Among the competitors was also Leopoldo Pollack, whose proposal is of particular significance for the history of the adjacent green space. In addition to designing a new museum building, Pollack envisioned the redevelopment of the kitchen gardens rising towards the hill of Sant’Agostino. His project is documented in a fine watercolour drawing preserved at Accademia Carrara. Pollack conceived the museum not as an isolated structure, but as an element integrated into the city’s urban fabric, proposing the garden as a point of connection between Upper Bergamo and the historic lower districts. This vision, however, remained on paper, and the green space next to Accademia Carrara fell into a long and silent neglect that lasted for more than two centuries.
It was only in 2022, within the broader initiatives linked to Bergamo and Brescia being named Italian Capitals of Culture for 2023, that the decision was made to redevelop this green area. The project, designed by architect Antonio Ravalli with landscape architecture by INOUT Architettura, was supported by Regione Lombardia, the Municipality of Bergamo, Fondazione Accademia Carrara, and the contribution of PwC. The redevelopment of this extensive green space, located at the foot of the Sant’Agostino Bastion and bordered to the north by the fifteenth-century defensive structure of the Muraine, led to the creation of a multi-level romantic garden, an outdoor walkway connecting the different levels of the museum and allowing direct access between the galleries and the gardens, and the restoration of a disused building converted into a bistrot. More than two centuries later, Pollack’s intuition of reintegrating the museum into its natural urban context has finally become a reality.
OPENING HOURS
Monday: 9 am – 5.30 pm
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday: 9.00 am – 5.30 pm
Thursday: 9.00 am – 12.00 midnight
Friday: 9.00 am – 1.00 am
Saturday: 10.00 am – 1.00 am
Sunday: 10.00 am – 6.00 pm
INFO UTILI
Access to the PwC Gardens is free of charge and open to all. The gardens can be reached either from the museum—via the new walkway connecting the galleries to the outdoors, or through the independent entrance at 7 Via della Noca.
Dogs are welcome in the gardens, provided they are kept on a leash and respect the green spaces.
BÙ BISTROT IN CARRARA
The restoration of a building once used as the museum’s tool storage has given Accademia Carrara a bistro open to everyone: Bù Bistrot in Carrara, also accessible through an independent entrance on Via della Noca. Set within the greenery of the PwC Gardens, Bù Bistrot in Carrara brings together food, art, local culture, and hospitality. Here, gastronomy becomes a way to celebrate local identity and the surrounding territory, through a free and creative interpretation of its ingredients.
The opening hours of Bù Bistrot in Carrara follow those of the PwC Gardens, listed above.
PARTNERS
