City and Territory Museum, Monsummano Terme

Inaugurated in 1998 as “Mirror of the population and its history” and awarded with special mention at the European Museum Year Award in 2001, the”Museo della Città e del Territorio” of Monsummano Terme, located in the building of the Osteria dei Pellegrini after a long refurbishment, was divided into numerous sections, each dedicated to a historical period or to one of the themes or events that have made ancient and recent history of Monsummano. Geology and palaeontology, with the Ambiente e storia e Archeologia antica e medievale (Environment and History and Ancient and Medieval Archaeology) section, introduce the tour through ancient findings, documents, and models. The Fattorie granducali (Gran-ducal Farms) and Valdinievole Felix sections show the territory’s growth, from the Gran-ducal farms to the thermal baths primacy together with Montecatini. “Padule di Fucecchio” has its own section that narrates the utilisation of the basin from the natural resources point of view and commercial uses of the waterway that connected it with Valdarno and the sea. There are 16 sections in which the journey in the territory continues, from the Nazi massacre of 23 August 1944 to the emigration phenomenon between the two wars, Osteria dei Pellegrini, seat of the Museo della Città e del Territorio from the great Medicean works to the industriousness that lead to the entrepreneurial fortunes of the city as it is today. Each section, through materials that range from photographs to videos, from computerised simulations to archaeological findings, from ancient pieces to reproductions, is an autonomous path even if the museum is designed to offer the visitor a unique multimedia and interactive itinerary. The museum is inserted in the Museum System of Valdinievole as important part of the museum paths that cross and connect Montecatini Terme,Serravalle Pistoiese, Montalbano, and Pescia. There are also temporary exhibitions that enrich the cultural offer.