The Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Collections: One Museum, Four Cities

The words “banker”, “patron of the arts” and “collector” were long synonymous in the Italian language. During the Renaissance , the name of the Medici family alone wrapped them all into one. Today’s equivalent is Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. Italy’s leading bank is not just an economic but also a cultural powerhouse. “One Museum, Four Cities” is one of the slogans of the “Cultura” project, which exhibits the financial institution’s 30,000 or so works in historic buildings in Naples , Milan, Turin and Vicenza. They are the cardinal points of a museum network called “Gallerie d’Italia”, a veritable compass of its investment in culture. In Renaissance Italy , the cradle of both the arts and modern finance, credit institutes multiplied, and with them art collections. Over the centuries the collections grew thanks to purchases, donations and seizures when impecunious customers could not pay their debts. They also came together when large banking groups were formed. Their artistic value is often unequaled. Paintings and sculptures…