Museo di arti decorative Fondazione Pietro Accorsi (Museum of Decorative arts Pietro Accorsi Foundation)

The museum of decorative arts was born from the rich inheritance of Pietro Accorsi (Turin 1891-1982), one of the most important European antiquaries of the 20th century, and it has its seat in the historical building of via Po 55, built around the year 1684 under the direction of the Ducal Architect Amedeo di Castellamonte.

The building complex that completes the left side of via Po, originally belonged to the order of the padri Antoniani di S. Antonio di Ranverso, form which derived the popular name of the building "Casa di Sant'Antonio" (Saint Anthony's House).

The Piffetti Salon, inside the Decorative Art museum

In 1776 the building was bought by the Ordine Mauriziano, the ancient Turin institution created in the 16th century for the will of the duke Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia. Since April 15th, 1901, when Pietro Accorsi's father was appointed from the order "building's porter", the whole family moved to a modest flat overlooking the building's courtyard.

Since then Pietro Accorsi stayed in the building and, thanks to the growing prestige of the antiquary activity, a few years later he was able to rent some areas in which he settled down and made the seat for the exhibition gallery.
In 1956 the whole building became property of the antiquary, and, after his death, seat of the Foundation and today the Museum of Decorative arts.

Inside the museum the 27 rooms host the rich collection of works of art which originally furnished his house.

Thousands of objects, mainly from the 18th century, are exhibited: the famous double body piece of furniture in rare wood with ivory and tortoise made in 1738 by Pietro Piffetti (1701-1777); the double body piece of furniture entirely covered in majolica tiles of Pesaro, a rare and elegant Venetian bedroom; French furniture, Messein, Ginori, Frankenthal and Sèvres porcelains, Baccarat glasses, important paintings, like the series of six hunting scenes by Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli (1730-1800) and the Piacere della vita campestre, a variation of the famous painting by Francois Boucher, now exhibited in the Louvre in Paris.

Furthermore, Pietro Accorsi collaborated with the town museums of Turin, which, thanks to his intermediation, bought works of art of great importance like the Ritratto d'uomo by Antonello da Messina and the second part of the Très belles heures of the duke of Berry, painted in miniature by Jan van Eyck.