Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst

In Rancate, a district of Mendrisio in the Kanton Tessin, the Kantonale Pinakothek Giovanni Züst is located; the building is classified as a cultural property of national significance and is devoted primarily to the presentation of historical painting. The collection holdings are permanently housed in the former parsonage.

Giovanni Züst (1887–1976) provided the foundation for the museum. Originally from Basel, he founded a forwarding company in Chiasso in 1911, moved to Tessin in 1921 and from 1930 arranged a private collection in his villa in Rancate. On 9 March 1966 he transferred around 400 works to the Kanton Tessin on the condition that a picture gallery be established in Rancate; the deadline for this was set at 30 June 1967. The cantonal administration chose the old parsonage as the site, which was subsequently altered and prepared for use as a museum. Construction work was largely completed in June 1967; the official opening took place on 23 September that year in the presence of cantonal and national representatives. At the end of the 1980s the building underwent extensive restoration.

The collection is continually being expanded. The permanent exhibition concentrates on works from the 17th to the 19th century. The Baroque is represented, among others, by Giovanni Serodine, Pier Francesco Mola, Ludovico David, Giuseppe Antonio Petrini and Giuseppe Antonio Felice Orelli. Tessiner painters of the 19th century on display include Antonio Rinaldi, Bernardino Pasta, Adolfo Feragutti Visconti, Luigi Rossi, Spartaco Vela, Pietro Anastasio and Gioachimo Galbusera; the presentation is complemented by northern Italian artists such as Giovanni Fattori, Vincenzo Cabianca, Mosè Bianchi, Gaetano Previati and Giovanni Segantini. Two special exhibitions are shown each year in the wing added in 1967.