FONDAZIONE MONTANELLI BASSI

The Foundation was established in 1987 by the journalist and essayist Indro Montanelli in his home town.

It has been based in Palazzo della Volta since 1993, and although its vocation is mainly literary, it also has a collection of works by local painter Arturo Checchi (1886–1971). The first group in the collection comprises seven paintings, 28 drawings and two watercolours that were donated in 1998 by Montanelli himself.

Further gifts followed, the most important of which was in 2008 when a major exhibition of Checchi’s work was organized by the foundation in collaboration with the Museum of Fucecchio, which holds another collection of work by the artist. Of great interest are his Taccuini, fourteen books of drawings that testify to Checchi’s enduring interest in the quotidian.