Fucecchio – Civic and diocesan Museum

Piazza Vittorio Veneto 27, Fucecchio
tel. +39 0571 268262
www.comune.fucecchio.fi.it

Opening hours:
From Tuesday to Friday 10 – 1 a.m.; Saturday, Sunday, and on holidays 4 – 7 p.m.

What I have become, I owe to Milan, but what I am, my character, I owe to Fucecchio. (Indro Montanelli)

Sitting on the stairs of Corsini Palace, this time no character of a distant past is waiting for us, but a man who is a little closer to us; he lived during the twentieth century between history, journalism and contradictions. His coat touches the steps, he wears a Borsalino hat and he has a typewriter on his knees. With a hurried nodding of the head, he invites us to go inside, while he resumes typing.

The museum covers a wide span of time, through sections that go from the archaeological one, to the naturalistic one, until the twentieth century. Here we will find some artifacts from the Pleistocene era, the Paleolithic era and the Bronze Age village that was found in the silent but important area of Padule, where some of the specimens of fauna that have now left the area come from.

Its archaeological section has a wide variety of local remains, together with the Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian remains from the Lotti collection. It is worth noting the new room dedicated to the Arno and the trades of ancient times and the Middle Ages.

The historical-artistic section, with its precious paintings, is known to researchers and experts, who for years have identified the author of the extraordinary Nativity with the name of the Master of the Kress Landscapes who has recently turned out to be Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani. It is worth visiting for this panel alone.

But what makes this museum stand out from the others is its focus on the Risorgimento, a time that combined the various ideals of the Italians, who were determined in their fighting for a united Italy under the tricolor flag, that has shown and still shows the path towards liberty and democracy. Back then, many men fought to free themselves from the yoke of the foreigner. Men, women and children that today give us a precious gift: the idea that liberty comes from knowledge and culture.

How many more times Italy had to fight for Liberty: in fact, until the mid-twentieth century. How many stories have been written, and how many more are still to be told? This is the reason why, when going outside, we will still find Indro Montanelli writing on his typewriter.

All the rooms of the museum are equipped with QR codes for additional information.