Located in Villa Aiola (a hamlet in the municipality of Montecchio Emilia), just over 25 kilometres from our farmhouse, the Historical Museum of Parmigiano Reggiano and Rural Life in the Val d’Enza is an important testament to the dairy and agricultural culture of Emilia-Romagna. Officially inaugurated on 1 May 1983, thanks to the commitment and efforts of the ‘La Barchessa’ association, it is housed in an original farmhouse that has been skilfully renovated. It houses an extraordinary collection of artefacts and tools used until the 1950s in the Reggio Emilia countryside, offering visitors an authentic journey through time.
The exhibition is spread over three levels.
The ground floor consists of three sections. The first, or entrance hall, welcomes visitors with an exhibition dedicated to carts, the means of transport par excellence. The typical Reggio cart consisted of a long, rectangular structure, with a front often embellished with decorations and symbols, a solid frame, two axles and large wheels designed to withstand shocks and rough terrain. In addition to work carts, there were also those intended for special occasions, such as the “bridal cart”, decorated with symbols of fertility and good luck for the new family. The second section consists of a stable with two sets of “posts”. On the right-hand side, some rooms of the house have been recreated (kitchen, weaving room, pantry, etc.), while on the left-hand side there is a reproduction of the stable itself, featuring “la posta”, a place reserved for cows. Continuing on, there is an area dedicated to the farmyard. The third section of the ground floor is reserved for tools used in cheese production and milk transport, where utensils such as the churn and the scales for weighing the cheese wheels are on display.
The first floor consists of two sections. The first section, the old barn, contains tools for working the fields and some utensils used for domestic work (such as those for spinning wool and hemp and for washing clothes by hand). In particular, there are several models of ploughs, which could be with or without a cart, a disc plough if used to make a furrow in the ground or a mouldboard plough if used to turn the soil. The second section recreates the bedrooms of the farmer and the landowner as they once were. The farmer’s bed consisted of two trestles topped with wooden planks and a simple straw mattress or a mattress padded with sheep’s wool, which was processed by hand to make it soft. Next to the double bed are two small shelf-style bedside tables and the youngest child’s cot, protected by a safety net. In the adjacent room, there is a collection of toys from the period, used by children of various ages (dolls, rocking horse, etc.).
The last level is the underground cellar, where the tools used for wine production are stored. Here you can see the traditional foot-operated wine press (called a mostadora), the fermentation vat, the press used to press the fermented must, the filter used for the finest wines, the barrels for the first stage of ageing, the demijohns for storage and finally the bottles for consumption. The final product was Lambrusco, the best known and most appreciated of the wines of Emilia.
To complete the educational museum tour, visitors can admire a characteristic 18th-century wood-burning hut, which has now become a veritable monument to Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Fully functional, it is used for demonstrations and educational activities. The hut houses ancient tools for processing milk, as well as others that are still in use today.
The museum can only be visited by appointment. Further information is available on the official website of the Historical Museum of Parmigiano Reggiano and Rural Life in the Val d’Enza.
Photo © Historical Museum of Parmigiano Reggiano and Rural Life in the Val d’Enza
AGRITURISMO IL BRUGNOLO
Welcome to il Brugnolo
If you’re looking for completely independent apartments surrounded by greenery you really are in the right place here!
In fact, Brugnolo is immersed in the green nature of the Emilian countryside. For your relaxation, for that of your children, and again for the runs of your 4-legged friends, you will have 6000 square meters of park at your disposal!
