The Pius IX Museum in Senigallia gathers paintings, furnishings and objects that belonged to Pope Pius IX and his family, the Mastai Ferretti. It is housed in Palazzo Mastai Ferretti, where Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, the future pope, was born; the family had settled in Senigallia in 1557. The palazzo later passed to other families, including the Augusti Arsilli, and at the end of the nineteenth century the French Bellegarde de Saint Lary lived there.
What to see
The museum is on the first floor, with the library on the ground floor. The first room, the reception hall, is decorated with 17 canvases of Old Testament episodes, four sibyls and a self-portrait by the Senigallia painter Giovanni Anastasi, along with three painted chests from the Marche perhaps by the same artist. The amnesty room shows two canvases with the text of the amnesty of 16 July 1846 and vestments used by the pope; its stucco ceiling is the only one in the palazzo undamaged by the earthquake of 30 October 1930.
Next come the travel room, with paintings of the pope's journeys, and the medal room, with commemorative medals of the long pontificate, an ivory crucifix and a model of the column of the Immaculate Conception raised in 1856 in piazza di Spagna. The birth room holds the canopy bed and the clothes used during stays in Senigallia; a small chapel has a Madonna by Sassoferrato on the altar, and the last room gathers the coins of the papal mint from 1846 to 1878.
Visiting
Opened in 1892, the museum closed in the early twentieth century, when many works were sold at auction in Milan; in 1909 the palazzo was bought by the Archbishop of New York and later granted to the diocese. After damage from the earthquakes of 1930 and 1972, the museum reopened on 8 February 1976. Opening times and tickets should be checked with the diocese.
Our editors' tip
To round off the visit, the façade of Senigallia cathedral, a few steps away, was wanted and paid for by Pius IX himself, whose bronze statue dominates the nave.
