The Museo del Novecento (Museum of the Twentieth Century) was opened at the beginning of the year after renovation.  We entered it from the bookstore which faces the piazza.  It was not apparent from the piazza that there is a museum entrance.

We rented an audio guide and spent quite a bit of time at each stop.  I am glad that we got the audio guide as the museum is very difficult to navigate, partly because it is spread over two buildings.  Follow this link to a critical review on the design of the museum.  Apparently, a “museum path” was designed by a group of academics but from a user point-of-view, it did not work for us –  we had to double-back at least twice to find the next exhibit and wondered if we reached the end of an exhibit.

Spiral ramp and statues of the bottom floor

Despite the convoluted layout, thankfully, it has many places to rest and the seatings are smart and interesting. We have no idea who are the designers/manufacturers of these furniture pieces. Let me know in the Comments if you recognize them.

This chair is primarily for use by the guards who stand around all day.  The arm rest is truly clever.

I can use this one at home.  It is more comfortable than it looks

Three-seater:  wall mounted or seemingly floating.

Four-seater: free-standing

The pieces shown below are apparently for visitors’ use, although they look like parts of the exhibition. There were no labels on the wall.

In the same gallery, there is a skylight and a “ghost” of a bookshelf on one wall.  The technique for the ghost is similar to that applied to the furniture.

The “ghost” of a bookshelf