Museo degli oggetti di uso quotidiano a Castagnole

Site overview

The memory of work and daily life of an alpine community. The Museo degli oggetti di uso quotidiano of Castagnole was established in the late seventies through the initiative of the village inhabitants. Meticulous research in houses, attics, and cellars culminated in an exhibition in 1978 and, in 1979, in a display of local photographs, both ancient and recent; in 1981, it became a permanent exhibition. The need not to fossilize the objects within the museum led to further documentation work with photographs, interviews, and descriptions of places, labor, and moments of life.

The first section, titled “Chestnuts, hay, the stable” (Le castagne, il fieno, la stalla), collects objects (almost entirely of local manufacture) intended for agricultural work and livestock farming. The second and third sections are grouped under the title “From the tree… to the Wood Master’s workshop” (Dall’albero…al laboratorio del Mastro di bosco). The second contains the work tools of woodcutters (ressiàjri). In the third, the carpenter’s workshop is reconstructed, featuring the workbench and tools. A corner summarizes the life and toil of women. The objects are displayed with their names in Italian and in the dialect of Castagnole, the lower linguistic border of the Francoprovençal language.