Over time, the path leading to the birth of the Pinacoteca intertwined with the development of various institutions housed in the spaces of today’s Palazzo dei Musei.
1778: The School of Drawing is founded;
1831: The Society for the Encouragement of the Study of Drawing is established, taking over its management;
1838: The Barolo School of Wood Carving is founded, named after its promoter, the Turin Marquis Carlo Tancredi Falletti di Barolo;
1875: The Society for the Preservation of Works of Art and Monuments in Valsesia is founded; one of its objectives is the establishment of a Pinacoteca;
1885: During the celebrations in honor of Gaudenzio Ferrari, the Valsesian Art Exhibition is inaugurated;
1886: From an initial nucleus of works from the exhibition, the original Pinacoteca is born, consisting of two rooms;
1939-1957: Under the direction of the first director, the painter Emilio Contini, the collection grew and expanded to more than twenty rooms;
1960: Under the guidance of the Valsesian engineer Giorgio Rolandi, president of the Society for Preservation, the rearrangement of the Pinacoteca is inaugurated.
2002: the hall dedicated to Tanzio da Varallo is inaugurated;
2005: the rooms dedicated to Gaudenzio Ferrari and the Renaissance are rearranged;
2009-2015: the spaces housing the collections of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are renovated;;
2018: The Pinacoteca hosts the exhibition Il Rinascimento di Gaudenzio Ferrari.