Guide to Italy's Quirkiest Craft Museums: From Railway Clocks to Marionettes

Artribune continues its series on Italy's small museums with a guide to seven craft and trade museums across the country. In Pesariis (Friuli Venezia Giulia), the Museo dell'Orologeria Pesarina showcases over a hundred clocks, including the 1948 Solari palette clock, and is open until September 13, 2026. The Museo dello Spazzacamino in Santa Maria Maggiore (Piedmont) documents the chimney sweep trade, highlighting the historical exploitation of child sweeps. Bergantino (Veneto) hosts the Museo storico della giostra e dello spettacolo popolare, tracing fairground entertainment from medieval markets to hyper-technological Luna Parks. Vigevano's Museo Internazionale della Calzatura (Lombardy), housed in the Castello Sforzesco, displays footwear from Beatrice d'Este's 1495 pianella to the invention of the stiletto heel with an aluminum tip. Marsciano's Museo Dinamico del Laterizio e delle Terrecotte (Umbria) explores brick and terracotta production from Roman times to today. Palermo's Museo delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino (Sicily) holds over 5,000 puppets and marionettes from five continents, including works by Renato Guttuso, Tadeusz Kantor, and Enrico Baj. Samugheo's MURATS (Sardinia) focuses on Sardinian textile art from the late 18th century to contemporary fiber art.