Fellini Museum

Three sites in the old town: the castle, the cinema where Fellini fell in love with film, and the square between them

Castel Sismondo • Palazzo del Fulgor • Piazza Malatesta

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Three Sites

Castle, cinema and square, all walkable

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Opened 2021

Inaugurated 19 August, over 13.5m euro

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2 to 3 Hours

Longer if you sit down in the Fulgor

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Closed Mondays

Except public holidays

🧭 Why Visit

This is not a museum of Fellini's films. It is a museum of how he thought, and it is built inside a fifteenth century fortress, which turns out to suit him. A suspended Christ under a timber roof, a wall of projected faces along the brickwork, a truck parked indoors on a strip of real asphalt. You walk through the sets rather than past the objects.

🏛️ A Little History

The museum opened on 19 August 2021 at a final cost of over 13.5 million euro, and it is spread across three places rather than gathered into one. Its own ticket names them: Castel Sismondo, Piazza Malatesta and the Palazzo del Fulgor. The buildings were fitted out by the architect Orazio Carpenzano with Studio Tommaso Pallaria, the immersive multimedia work is Studio Azzurro's, and the Fulgor reopened with sets designed by Dante Ferretti, who has won three Oscars. Marco Bertozzi and Anna Villari curated it.

💭 Did You Know?

In 1960 the psychoanalyst Ernst Bernhard encouraged Fellini to write down and draw his dreams. He kept it up for about thirty years across several volumes, and the museum reproduces the pages at a scale you can read across a room. The sheets on show are dated: a dream of 29 October 1961, another of 12 November, another from October 1975.

THE CASTLE DID HALF THE WORK

The Rooms They Built

The museum is inside a fifteenth century fortress and the designers used it: brick vaults, a timber roof, a curved wall. A figure hung from the beams, faces projected along the brickwork, a truck parked indoors on a strip of real asphalt. One room is furnished as a library, modelled on the one in Fellini’s own house and meant, in the museum’s words, as a place to stop for a moment.

A large pale statue of Christ hung on cables under the roof of a brick hall at the Fellini Museum
The figure overheadThe figure overhead
Women's faces projected along the curved brick wall of a dark hall at the Fellini Museum
The wall of facesThe wall of faces
An old motorbike beneath the tailboard of a canvas covered wagon at the Fellini Museum
The motorbikeThe motorbike
A blue flatbed truck with a lighting rig on a boom, on a strip of asphalt at the Fellini Museum
The truck, indoorsThe truck
A sculpted woman in a black sequinned gown lying asleep under a projected night sky, Fellini Museum
Asleep under the skyAsleep under the sky
Two tall wooden benches with panelled backs and canopies against a plastered wall, Fellini Museum
Two benchesTwo benches
The reading area at the Fellini Museum, its furnishings modelled on Fellini's home library
The reading roomThe reading room
CASANOVA, 1976

Things From the Films

Almost everything here is from Fellini’s Casanova, designed by Danilo Donati, who won the Academy Award for its costumes. The mechanical bird was built from a drawing by Fellini himself.

Costumes from Fellini's Casanova in a vaulted brick hall at the Fellini Museum, lit from below
Down the costume hallDown the costume hall
A red velvet cloak and wide brimmed hat from Fellini's Casanova, costumes by Danilo Donati
Velvet and brimFellini's Casanova, 1976. Sister Maddalena's costume, designed by Danilo Donati, who won the Academy Award for the film's costumes.
The gilded mechanical bird from Fellini's Casanova, wings spread on a gilt casket in a mirrored case
The gilded birdThe mechanical bird
Three director's chairs at the Fellini Museum lettered A. EKBERG, M. MASTROIANNI and G. MASINA
Three chairsThree chairs
A director's chair lettered F. FELLINI on a boarded floor at the Fellini Museum
His chairHis chair
THIRTY YEARS OF THEM

The Book of Dreams

In 1960 the psychoanalyst Ernst Bernhard encouraged Fellini to write down and draw his dreams. He did it for about thirty years, and the museum reproduces the pages at a scale you can read across a room.

A giant open book at the Fellini Museum showing two pages of Fellini's dream notebooks
The book, openThe book, open
One page of the dream book at the Fellini Museum, coloured figures and Fellini's handwriting
One pageOne page
WHERE HE STARTED

The Palazzo del Fulgor

The cinema Fellini went to as a boy and put into Amarcord, in an eighteenth century palazzo. Dante Ferretti designed the interiors it wears now. There is a rhinoceros on a boat outside it.

The rhinoceros sculpture on its boat shaped plinth outside the Palazzo del Fulgor in Rimini
The rhinocerosThe rhinoceros
A lit wall of original Fellini film posters behind glass at the Palazzo del Fulgor
The poster wallThe poster wall
A painted Amarcord panel at the Palazzo del Fulgor lettered FEDERICO FELLINI and AMARCORD
AmarcordAmarcord

Live Prices & Availability

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  • The castle and the Fulgor are two different visits with two different moods. Do the castle first and the cinema after.
  • Castel Sismondo does not stay open through the middle of the day in the low season, so an afternoon slot can mean a wait. Check before you walk over.
  • The square is free and open, and the water veil that stands in for Fellini’s fog runs on its own schedule. Worth a look on the way past even if you are not going in.
  • An Art Card covers this museum and several others in Rimini. Worth it if you are staying more than a day.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Fellini Museum?
Rimini's museum to Federico Fellini, who was born here. It occupies three places in the old town: Castel Sismondo, the Palazzo del Fulgor, and the square between them. It opened in August 2021.
Is it about the films?
Less than you would expect. There are costumes and props, but the museum is built around how Fellini imagined rather than what he shot, and the installations are as much of the visit as the objects.
How long does it take, and what does it cost?
Two to three hours for both buildings. Tickets, opening hours and the Art Card are on the museum's own site at fellinimuseum.it, and the castle's hours differ between summer and winter.
What is the Book of Dreams?
The notebook Fellini kept for about thirty years, drawing his dreams the morning after. The museum reproduces it at a scale you can read, and it is the thing most people remember afterwards.

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