Collezione Maramotti

The Collezione Maramotti is one of Italy's most significant private collections of post-war and contemporary art, housed in the former Max Mara factory on the western outskirts of Reggio Emilia. Entry is free but by appointment only — book ahead on their website. The collection focuses on Italian work from the 1940s to the present, with particular depth in Arte Povera, Transavanguardia, and the abstract painting movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

The building itself is worth the visit. The renovated factory space is generous and well-lit, with works installed with considerable care. Major names in the collection include Lucio Fontana, Mario Schifano, Mimmo Paladino, Francesco Clemente, and Enzo Cucchi. The international holdings are strong too — there are works by Damien Hirst, Marlene Dumas, and Peter Doig. For visitors with a serious interest in post-war Italian art, this collection is the single best reason to come to Reggio Emilia.

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A story
Achille Maramotti, the founder of Max Mara, began collecting art in the late 1950s with a specific focus: Italian painting and sculpture from 1945 onwards, work that was being made in studios across the country at the same moment that Italian fashion was finding its post-war confidence. The result is not a corporate vanity collection but a rigorous scholarly enterprise, now housed in the former Max Mara factory where Italian fashion was manufactured.

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