A journey into rural memory

The Museum of Rural Life, located on the first floor of the 16th-century Cloister and inaugurated on 6 October 2002, preserves the memory of the agricultural life of our community in the early 1900s. With over a thousand objects on display, it is one of the richest and most significant museums of this kind.

The Museum venue

From the loggia, it is possible to access the Museum of Rural Life, located on the first floor of the 16th-century Cloister. The space occupied by the Museum was once the most secluded part of the Monastery, where the cells of the Camaldolese Monks were located.

The purpose of the Museum is to preserve the memory of what life was like for the agricultural community in our area in the early 1900s. Much of the material on display comes from families of the Parish, and several tools and agricultural equipment have been donated by neighbouring communities. The professional setup highlights a vast collection of farming tools, utensils and objects, making it one of the richest and most significant museums of this kind.

Entrance hall and historical panels

In the large entrance hall, several panels retrace the history of the Abbey of Carceri, from the presence of the Augustinian Monks to the arrival of the Camaldolese, up to the arrival of the noble Carminati family, ending with the final transfer of the site to the Parish of Carceri.

On the opposite side there is an illustrated depiction of the day of a Benedictine Monk, guest of the Abbey of Carceri. The fifteen illustrations highlight the hours of work, prayer and rest that the Monks faced every day.

Visit itinerary

For a more in-depth visit to the Museum, we suggest the following itinerary:

Rooms for agricultural work

Soil preparation room: Tools for sowing and hoeing, and for harvesting agricultural products (wheat, alfalfa, beetroot and corn)
Rogation space
Stable room: numerous essential tools for managing the work and the animals that supported agricultural activity

Rooms for domestic work

Kitchen: all the traditional kitchen utensils
House areas: ironing, sewing, washing clothes
Bedroom: equipped with accessories from the past
Weights and measures: ancient units of measurement
Leisure time: objects used in leisure time
Wine route: Tools and objects used for wine production

Craft rooms

In the section of the Museum overlooking the large 16th-century Cloister, rooms dedicated to traditional crafts have been set up:

School and games room
Wool and hemp processing room
Shoemaker’s room
Carpenter’s room
Blacksmith’s room (“favaro”) and Grinder’s room (“moleta”)

Inside the Museum, there is a Room for educational activities that can be carried out by Primary School children during the visit to the Abbey complex

The route proposed for visiting the Museum bears witness to the work carried out by the communities of Augustinian and Camaldolese Monks to make the lives of our ancestors vibrant and self-sufficient.