national museum of the arts and popular traditions
( musei nazionale delle arti e tradizioni popolari )
The Museum gathers together the material
exhibited in Rome in 1911 in the range of
the Italian Ethnographic Exhibition organized for
the fiftieth anniversary of the Unity of Italy
by ethnologist Lamberto Loria who had carried
out studies amongst non-European populations.
When
the researcher died in 1913, after several transfers,
the collections were finally arranged in a
centre in the EUR area with its current name
in 1956.
The museum tour unwinds through numerous sections
divided by theme and in which a selection of
over a hundred thousand documents relating to
Italian traditional culture is exhibited, most
of it attributable to a period between the XVIII
century and the beginning of the XX century.
The
following are brief examples of the collections
displayed in the museum: the room on
the ground floor features several means of transport
used by man (carts, sledges, tregge)
while other rooms illustrate work in the fields using
numerous tools such as ploughs, scythes,
spades and the productive cycles of grain,
grapes, olives and hemp are
also documented.
The
following sections are dedicated to sheep-farming
(breeding, milking, the productive
cycle of milk, the clothes of a shepherd
etc.), to hunting (weapons, traps,
bird calls, cages, nets,
sailboat models and plastic models
of boats, etc).
The section dedicated to work and domestic
space presents furniture and objects
from various regions, like kneading troughs
for bread, fireplace accessories,
containers for the preparation and
preservation of food, chests for equipment,
beds, wardrobes, etc.
The main religious festivals, the ceremonies of
the yearly cycle and those relating to the
magical-religious beliefs of the different regions,
a reillustrated th rough the exhibition of a Neapolitan
creche in eighteenth-century style, of numerous
photographs and Carnival masks, while-
among the different expressions linked to annual and
religious festivals - the collection features stockings
for Epiphany, dolls for Lent, objects
regarding the Holy Week, the collections
of pictorial and anatomic votive offerings,
ceramics, paintings and a few reproductions
of processional carts like the one of S.
Rosalia in Palermo, the Tower of S.
Rosa in Viterbo, the Candles of Gubbio,
etc.
The cycle of human life is represented in a section
exhibiting objects relating to the various phases of
a person's development, while popular traditions are
exhibited according to a rotation rule accordingto
the region they belongto.
The
collection of
jewellery
deserves a special mention because of its variety
and the importance of the examples including earrings,
necklaces, rings, accompanied by many
photographs belonging to the historical-photographic
archive of the Museum.
The
section dedicated to the theatre and popular
shows exhibits Sicilian puppets and the
marionettes of the Roman theatre, along with
to bills of story-tellers and games
held in the public squares, while the masks
of commedia dell'arte and musical instruments
(wind, stringed, percussion instruments)
are displayed in special rooms.
Information and Addresses
Address Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, 8/10
Visiting Hours Tuesday to Friday from 9.00 am to
400 pm; Saturday and Sunday from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm
(Jul. - Aug. from 9.00 am to 400 pm). Advance booking:
6.00 pm - 8.00pm.
The
ticket office closes half an hour before the scheduled
closing time Closed Monday, Dec. 25,Jan.1
Telephone 06 5926148 - 591°7°9 - 5912669; Fax 06
5911848
Price
€ 4,00;concessions € 2,00
For
Tours information
– private guided tours – special entrances, no
waiting in line - VIP services
www.tourinrome.com
www.vaticanmuseuminformation.com
www.vaticanmuseumticket.com
