Civic Museum of Cuneo

The Monumental Complex of San Francesco in Cuneo is a national monument, architectural testimony of the Middle Ages and home to the city museum. A fourteenth-century "ancient church", later incorporated into the convent space now used as a museum, is replaced by the "new church" of the second fifteenth century and the seventeenth-century cloister. The museum itinerary winds through the former convent: the archeological section , divided into Prehistory, Roman times and the Middle Ages, is made up of historical donations, now enriched by the acquisitions of recent excavations, exhibited with modern communication technologies and mostly coming from the motorway route. Asti-Cuneo (Roman necropolis and votive deposits from Montanera, Bombonina, Castelletto Stura; Longobard period kits from Sant'Albano Stura).

The collection of sacred art houses, among other works, some valuable tables attributed to Defendente Ferrari, a large collection of ex-votos has been set up with the aim of recreating the interior of a devotional chapel. Finally, the ethnographic section constitutes an evocative trait d'union between the city and its valleys: the efforts of daily work and festive occasions are evoked by a colorful collection of tools, materials, tools, clothes and jewels, representative of the Alpine communities locals.

The “unseen museum” also reveals its treasures, but which can be “consulted” upon request: the Giovanni Vacchetta collection collects unpublished drawings, sketches and manuscripts useful for reconstructing the history of Piedmontese artistic heritage between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the substantial photographic archive of Adriano Scoffone offers an illuminating image of the city during the years of the Regime.