Possagno historical timeline

Origins

Possagno was a modest hill village in the Venetian mainland territories, with a stonecutting and brickmaking tradition that came from the clay and stone of the Grappa foothills. Canova was born into that world in 1757, the son of a stonecutter.

Canova's century

Trained in Venice and made famous in Rome, Canova returned to his village as its patron. From 1819 he financed and designed a new parish church for it. He died in 1822 without seeing it finished; the Tempio was consecrated in 1830 and he is buried inside.

The studio comes home

After his death the contents of his Roman studio — plaster models, working casts, clay sketches — were brought to Possagno and housed in a purpose-built gallery beside his birthplace. That collection is now the largest body of Canova's plasters anywhere.

The First World War

Monte Grappa, directly above the village, was a front line from 1917 to 1918 and one of the most heavily fought positions in the Italian campaign. Possagno sat immediately behind it. The Gypsotheca was shelled in 1917 and its plasters damaged; they were restored afterwards.

Scarpa

In 1957, for the bicentenary of Canova's birth, Carlo Scarpa was commissioned to extend the gallery. What he built is studied by architects in its own right and changed how the collection is seen.