G. De Fabris Civic Ceramics Museum of Nove

The desire to create a Civic Museum in Nove was made explicit since the middle of the 20th century. Since then, the citizens of Nove began to gather a collection of valuable ceramics to create a first museum collection inside the 1800’s building which had housed the School of drawing, that then became Royal School of Art and then Art Secondary School. It was erected according to the testamentary will of a generous patron, the sculptor Giuseppe De Fabris (Nove 1790 – Rome 1860), the most renowned citizen of Nove in terms of artistic standing and civil commitment. At the time, his father, Gioacchino, was director of the famous Antonibon factory, where a young De Fabris had his first technical experiences. When he was 16, he moved to Vicenza; he then lived in Milan and, from 1814, settled down in Rome, where he died in 1860. He had contact with famous figures and artists of his time, among which we remember Antonio Canova. He created the monumental tomb for the great architect Andrea Palladio in the Monumental Cemetery of Vicenza.

He was Director of the Vatican Museums and had numerous academic assignments. His substantial bequest permitted the birth of the Art Institute for Ceramics. In the 1908’s, the municipal administration undertook the creation of a Civic Ceramics Museum, offering the citizenship the opportunity to have a concrete testimony of their history and cultural identity.

The parish priest, Don Sante Grego, President of the Opera Pia Giuseppe De Fabris, and its board of administration decided, in 1986, to donate to the Municipality the 1800’s building, which had been the headquarters of the Art School, with the purpose of housing the Civic Ceramics Museum.

The citizens of Nove and the association “Nove Terra di Ceramica” worked to donate to the newly-formed collection many valuable ceramics. In 1983, the first institutional act for the foundation of the Civic Ceramics Museum was passed, and it was inaugurated in 1995. The visit is organized on three floors, starting from the top with the oldest ceramics, continuing with the section dedicated to the 1800’s on the first floor, and finishing off on the ground floor with the works from 20th century and a look into contemporary ceramics.