The birth of the Pino Pascali Museum dates back to 1998 following a significant bequest of works and memorabilia belonging to the artist by the family. In 2010, the Museum transformed into the Fondazione Pino Pascali, co-owned by the Puglia Region and the Municipality of Polignano a Mare, with its own statute and internal regulations. The current headquarters is a restored former municipal slaughterhouse, overlooking the sea, the seaside house that Pascali so desired.

The activity of the Foundation takes its cue from the figure of Pino Pascali, one of the most important representatives of Italian and international Art during the Sixties, who died at the young age of 33 in Rome, a fundamental reference point for the development of the museum's exhibition activity.

The Foundation is structured in a way to work as containers in order to offer a vision of art as eclectic as possible and in line with the main avant-garde linguistic research of the moment.

In addition to a significant number of works by Pino Pascali, the Foundation exhibits the works of the most significant artists from Puglia and the works of the winners of the Pino Pascali Prize. The permanent collection and temporary exhibitions offer the public a cultural offer in line with the most appreciated museum standards in the world, so much so that in 2013, it was awarded the First Prize as the Best Contemporary Art Foundation in Italy.