The collection was opened to the public in 1981 thanks to the initiative of agricultural entrepreneur and collector Guido Scaramagli, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ferrara, with the aim of providing documentation on rural work and life from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. There are over twelve thousand objects that make up the heritage, gathered by Scaramagli himself and displayed in several rooms of a rural house built around 1950, in the adjoining barn and in two side buildings added in the 1980s.
Within the buildings, a medical clinic, artisan workshops, a classroom, and some domestic environments have been reconstructed. A more recent building houses tools and machines for agricultural work, as well as evidence of traveling trades. Temporary exhibitions are held in the same building. An agricultural library collects books and magazines of particular interest and rarity such as the complete collection of the “Ferrara Farmer.” In the barn are two puppet theaters, complete with stage, movable scenes, and scripts, attributable to two important figures: Ettore Forni and Pompeo Gandolfi. Ettore Forni (1877-1959), puppeteer, sculptor, playwright, and set designer, mainly worked in the Ferrara and Rovigo area, but also in the provinces of Modena, Ravenna, Bologna. His collection includes 53 puppets, about a hundred stage sets, 24 pieces of props (weapons, furnishings, etc.), over 130 scripts, a theater with a frontispiece, a second removable smaller theater, 8 boards, documents, letters, and posters. Pompeo Gandolfi (1896-1971) worked mainly in the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the province of Bologna. An antifascist, he had difficulties during the regime but still managed to express his ideas through his puppets. His daughter Mirka, who worked with him, donated her father’s materials to the museum. His collection includes about twenty puppets, an equal number of handbills, 50 stage sets, and about ten pieces of props.
Information about the Documentation Center of the Ferrara Agricultural World
Via Imperiale, 265 – loc. S. Bartolomeo in Bosco,
44121 Ferrara (Ferrara)
0532725294
info@mondoagricoloferrarese.it
Source: MIBACT
