Founded in 1907 thanks to private donations, over the time the Museum was enriched with various testimonies of local history. Plundered by inhabitants of Pizzighettone themselves at the end of War World II, it was rebuilt in 1969 in the current location with artifacts from the river or from the land surrounding the building; these are shown in sections chronologically ordered.

Paleontological and prehistoric section

Presents bones of mammals that lived in the last phase of the Quaternary period (35,000-10,000 years ago), including Proboscidea, Cervids, Bovids and Ursids, emerged from the river Adda.

The material consists of prehistoric and proto-scrapers in flint of the Neolithic (7000-3000 BC), fragments of pottery and weapons from the Bronze Age (2300-1000 BC), everyday objects of the Iron Age (900- 100 BC). In addition, a pirogue monossile is shown in this section.

Roman section

Exhibits traces of the Roman presence in the territory: amphorae, oil lamps, tools for personal care, bullets for slingshot. The most important artifacts are two fragments of tabula patronatus of the Collegium Centonariorum Laudensium, the association of fabrics traders of Laus Pompeia (Lodi Vecchio) who, in 166 AD dedicated the document to a Roman knight. The fragments, engraved in bronze, also come from the river.

Weapons section

Preserves sidearms dating from the fourteenth to the twentieth century: swords, daggers, polearms, a sallet, (helmet) in addition to a small core of firearms and relics of the Risorgimento, in part belonged to Captain Paolo Antonio Losio (1824-1887), from Pizzighettone, who fought in the army of Savoy during the Wars of Independence. The weapons, found in the river Adda or donated by private individuals, attest to the importance of the fortress of Pizzighettone over the centuries.

Section of pottery and objects of art

It houses the remains of the first museum after the plundering of 1945: Renaissance pottery, a tablet from the ceiling of the shop of Bembo (half of the fifteenth century), the statues of the four cardinal virtues of the circle of Bambaia (first half of the sixteenth century), wood and marble carvings from seventeenth and eighteenth century, manufactured in the Cremona area and in Lombardia.

Section of Renaissance ceramics

Consists of a core of Renaissance crockery emerged from the excavation in the walls of a landfill connected to the canteen of the fortress. In addition to tableware and kitchenware, that can be attributed to the last decades of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, organic remains found in the excavation have provided valuable information on nutrition and the crops grown in the area at that time.

Contemporary art section

Collects paintings, engravings, watercolors, drawings, sculptures by contemporary artists, mostly in northern Italy. Formed in the seventies of the twentieth century by the painter Enrico Della Torre, includes works by the same Della Torre, Luigi Dragoni, Piero Giunni, Pierluigi Lavagnino, Gina Maffei, Gino Meloni, Elena Mezzadra, Mario Negri, Giancarlo Ossola, Pietro and Dimitri Plescan, Pierantonio Verga, Carlo Vittori and others. The collection, even if very small, illustrates examples of Italian art of the twentieth and twenty-first century, ending a journey that takes the visitor through the history and roots of the territory.

Info

Museo Civico di Pizzighettone Via Garibaldi, 18 26026 Pizzighettone (CR) - Tel. 0372 743347

cultura@comune.pizzighettone.cr.it - www.museocivicopizzighettone.it www.facebook.com/cultura.pizzighettone

Opening hours: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9-12.30 - From Monday to Friday 15-18.30 (during Library opening time) - Sunday Openings: May-July-September-October (every Sunday afternoon, from 15.00 to 18.00) and during events held in town.