Italy's First Chess Museum to Open in Marostica's Castello Inferiore

Marostica, the Veneto town famous for its living chess games, will host Italy's first chess museum, opening in spring 2023. The museum will occupy the Castello Inferiore, built by Cangrande della Scala in 1312, with an exhibition design by architect Antonio Ravalli. The entire collection of Giovanni Longo, an agri-food entrepreneur and honorary chess master, forms the core of the museum. Longo began collecting in the 1970s and has amassed around 200 sets from around the world and various eras, including Indian inlaid sets, Islamic aniconic pieces, late-18th-century pin-cushion sets with ivory pins for travel, and 19th-century sets from Parisian and London cafés. The collection also features works by modern artists Paul Wunderlich, Marcello Morandini, Gio Pomodoro, Franco Rocco, and Enrico Baj. Longo organized the 1995 tournament that entered the Guinness World Records with 926 participants, including then-world champion Anatoly Karpov, who won. A technical committee will oversee the museum's program, including themed exhibitions and an acquisitions fund, with support from the Associazione Pro Marostica, custodian of the town's living chess tradition. Longo hopes his donation will inspire other collectors to contribute, preventing the dispersal of their collections.