Museo Regionale Agostino Pepoli

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Explore the history of the Carmelite convent, the collections that preceded the museum, Agostino Pepoli's wider cultural patronage and the twentieth-century transformation of the institution.

The Carmelite convent and Borgo Annunziata

The museum's location reflects an earlier phase of Trapani's development. The Sanctuary of the Annunziata and its convent stood beyond the medieval city's principal fortified area, in the settlement that became known as Borgo Annunziata.

The Carmelite community was established in Trapani around the middle of the thirteenth century. Construction of the sanctuary and convent developed during the following century, creating a religious complex that subsequently underwent repeated enlargement and alteration.

Much of the architecture visible today belongs to later phases. The two-storey cloister developed between approximately 1590 and 1640, while further changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries introduced the monumental staircase, decorative marblework and other features associated with the convent's Baroque transformation.

The former chapter house, now the Sala dei Marmi, retains an important role in the museum's architectural arrangement. The staircase, with its branching flights, landing gallery and domed space, is another significant surviving feature.

The convent's development has been associated with the work of Giovanni Biagio Amico, the eighteenth-century architect from Trapani, although individual architectural attributions and construction phases require care.

As Trapani expanded beyond its historic peninsula, the once-peripheral religious complex became incorporated into the modern city. Its present setting therefore preserves a contrast between the medieval origins of the sanctuary and the later urban development surrounding it.

From the Pinacoteca Fardelliana to the Museo Pepoli

The museum's collections have a history extending back before Agostino Pepoli's involvement.

General Giovan Battista Fardella (1762–1836) donated books and paintings to Trapani in the early nineteenth century, contributing to the foundation of two distinct cultural institutions: the Biblioteca Fardelliana and the civic picture gallery called Pinacoteca Fardelliana.

The picture gallery was originally housed in the Collegio dei Gesuiti. Its holdings developed through further donations, municipal acquisitions and artworks transferred following the suppression of religious institutions in 1866.

By 1882, Fortunato Mondello recorded a collection of 210 paintings. These included works associated with Neapolitan painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reflecting the artistic connections between Trapani and mainland Italy.

Agostino Pepoli had already offered a substantial collection to the municipality in 1875, but the absence of suitable premises delayed the creation of a museum capable of accommodating it.

The availability of the former Carmelite convent eventually provided the necessary space. Pepoli financed its adaptation and brought together his own collection with the existing civic holdings, establishing the foundations of the new museum.

He also provided an endowment intended to support the institution beyond his lifetime.

Agostino Pepoli and the public gardens of Trapani and Erice

Agostino Sieri Pepoli's patronage extended beyond the museum to the restoration and adaptation of historic places and the creation of public gardens.

In Erice, he was responsible for the development of the Balio Gardens, established during the nineteenth century around the medieval towers overlooking the surrounding countryside.

Under an agreement with the municipality in 1872, Pepoli undertook to establish a public garden and obtained the use of the Balio Towers. He also commissioned the nearby Pepoli Turret, conceived as a place for study and intellectual gatherings.

In Trapani, he was associated with the creation of Villa Pepoli, the public garden adjoining the former Carmelite convent. Historically known as the Giardino della Madonna, the garden takes its alternative name from the nearby Sanctuary of the Annunziata.

These initiatives illustrate Pepoli's interest in adapting historic surroundings for cultural and public purposes, alongside his work collecting and preserving artworks.

The museum's artistic and archaeological collections

The museum's holdings reflect several different collecting traditions, rather than a single original collection.

An important part is devoted to the artistic production of Trapani, particularly the coral-working tradition for which the city became known. Coral, frequently combined with copper, silver and gilded metal, was used to produce devotional objects, decorative furnishings and elaborate works for ecclesiastical and private patrons.

The museum also preserves examples of goldsmithing, silverwork, ceramics, sculpture, furniture and textiles. Its paintings include works associated with Neapolitan and Sicilian artistic traditions, some inherited from the Pinacoteca Fardelliana.

Among the significant works documented in the museum's historical collections are a terracotta model by Giacomo Serpotta for an equestrian monument to Charles II of Spain and a glazed terracotta Nativity associated with Andrea della Robbia.

Archaeological material forms another component of the collections. An important addition was the acquisition, around 1922, of the Hernandez archaeological collection from Erice.

The Hernandez family had also contributed archaeological objects to the foundation of Erice's Museo Antonio Cordici in 1876. The precise relationship between these collections requires further documentary investigation.

Vincenzo Scuderi and the twentieth-century museum

The Museo Pepoli underwent a substantial transformation after the Second World War.

Restoration and structural work began in the late 1940s, followed by a prolonged period of closure and reorganisation. The project involved the art historian Vincenzo Scuderi and architect Franco Minissi, with contributions from specialists in archaeology and conservation.

The reorganisation reconsidered how the collections were presented, moving towards an arrangement that distinguished sculpture, painting, archaeology and decorative arts while making use of the historic convent spaces.

The museum reopened in April 1965. Scuderi documented the transformation in an article published the following year, providing a contemporary account of the architectural and curatorial decisions behind the project.

His contribution remains closely associated with the museum's modern development. In 2024, its library was named in his honour, recognising his work in the study and protection of Sicily's cultural heritage.