E’ among the oldest Italian museums in the field of material culture. Its origins date back to the United Romagnole Exhibitions held in Forlì in 1921. On that occasion Aldo Spallicci, Emilio Rosetti and Benedetto Pergoli created the Romagnola Ethnographic Exhibition, which actually constituted the first nucleus of the museum, officially inaugurated in April 1922 inside Palazzo Merenda. Initially focused on traditional artisanal sectors (from cabinetmaking, ceramics, to printed fabrics) and old trades, after the war the museum developed significantly with an increasing presence of tools and objects related to peasant uses and work. In 1964, in fact, a new museum section was opened inside Palazzo Gaddi with large machinery and agricultural tools. Following the start of restoration work in the Palace, since 2004 materials related to peasant work have been kept in a museum storage.The museum is divided into two large exhibition sectors. The first develops inside Palazzo Merenda and includes substantial collections of furniture, ceramics and various utensils with reconstructions of the domestic environments of the typical farmhouse and the urban house. Then follow the traditional shops, those of the rust fabric printer, the potter, the blacksmith, the luthier, the cobbler, the hatter, and finally, the characteristic Romagnola tavern. Among the furnishings is the interesting pictorial series by the artist from Cesena Giordano Severi, dedicated to the Rocche and castles of Romagna (1928-30). In Palazzo Gaddi, in addition to the machines and tools connected to the various work cycles in the Romagnola countryside, reconstructions of other artisan workshops are offered: those of the barber, the grocer, the candy maker, the tobacconist, the ropemaker, the saddler, the farrier, the framer, the carpenter. One section is dedicated to maritime activities in Romagna, with models of boats and reproductions of the sails of the fishing fleet, and to the salt pans of Cervia.
Information about Romagnolo Ethnographic Museum “Benedetto Pergoli”
Corso della Repubblica, 72,
47121 Forlì (Forlì-Cesena)
0543712606
servizio.pinacoteca.musei@comune.forli.fo.it
https://www.comune.forli.fo.it/cultura
Source: MIBACT
