Castelbuono's Civic Museum Opens Community Wunderkammer

The Museo Civico di Castelbuono in Sicily has inaugurated "La stanza delle meraviglie," a participatory exhibition featuring over 200 objects loaned by local residents, associations, schools, and confraternities. Curated by Maria Rosa Sossai in collaboration with Angelo Cucco, the show transforms the museum into a Wunderkammer celebrating common goods. Items include work tools, clothing, capes, confraternity garments, shoes, documents, jewelry, photos, and signs. The exhibition is part of the project "L'asta del 1920," referencing the year when the Castello dei Ventimiglia—now the museum's seat—was put up for judicial auction and townspeople donated belongings to buy it. Museum director Laura Barreca describes the project as an innovative format to engage the public and activate virtuous synergies with the community. Architect Pietro Airoldi designed the installation. Sossai calls the Wunderkammer "an existential archive that elaborates a visual vocabulary from exhibited objects, embodying a practice of the common good." The museum aims to build new narratives through contemporary languages, reinterpreting the community's material and intangible heritage.