The museum was established in 1987 and is housed in an ancient mill beneath the house lived in by Carlo Levi (1902-1975) between 1935 and 1936, during the eight and a half months of exile spent in Aliano. It displays objects used by peasants in agricultural, artisanal activities and daily life: tools for field work, the millstone and presses used for olive pressing, dishes and pots, irons and tools to prepare homemade pasta, lamps, braziers, harnesses.
The museum also documents ancient trades, such as wool spinning for fabric production and brick firing. Very interesting are also the apotropaic masks and musical instruments used during carnival.
Note the reconstruction of a typical peasant bedroom where men and animals slept together, making use of the limited space vertically.
Information about Museum of Peasant Civilization
Piazza Garibaldi
75010 Aliano (Matera)
0835568181; 0835568315
proloco@aliano.it
Source: MIBACT
