The Civic Museums are housed since 1830 in Palazzo San Francesco, built in the area where the imperial palace – become bishop’s seat in 1195 – stood.
In the XIII century the palace was turned into the S. Francesco Minor Conventual Friars, enlarged, restored and finally restructured into the present shape by Giovanni Maria Ferraroni in 1755.
The collection within hosts the original pieces collected by the scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani and by the ethnologist Gaetano Chierici, the prehistoric and protohistoric collection up to the Iron Age and the Roman Reggio collection with findings from the provincial territory, plus a Museum dedicated to Industrial Art and two sections gathering the Antonio Fontanesi and Renato Marino Mazzacurati works of art collection.
It is certainly worth a visit; it gives back a complete and fulfilling image of Reggio history describing the lifestyle of prehistoric population in the area, the art skills and habits of Roman people in Reggio, the interesting display of late 18th and 19th century museum culture and taste for scientific collection, the skills required in silk manufacturing, the local painters talent from the 16th to the 19th century in the Antonio Fontanesi Picture Gallery and of the celebrated 20th century artist Renato Marino Mazzacurati in the dedicated section.