ROCCA DI SUVERETO - PERMANENT EXHIBITION HISTORY, STORIES AND IDENTITY WORKSHOPS
The fortress was built by the Aldobrandeschi family around the second half of the 12th century, together with it the construction works of the defensive walls were also begun which, from the fortress, wound around the whole town. Placed in a dominant position with respect to the entire inhabited area, the fortress looks like an imposing fortified complex, consisting of a tower with a square base, against which a building is leaning. The wall structures are made of stone, with some loopholes that open at different heights along the walls of the tower; in some points there is a shoe base. The entrance portal to the palace, preceded by a short flight of steps, is characterized by a fine round arch. Rocca Aldobrandesca is the place where it all began.
From the first simple tower that the Aldobrandeschi built to guard the northern borders of their Maremma fiefdom, to the fortress that the Pisans completed at the beginning of the 14th century, it is around this site that the history and identity of the Suveretan community took shape.
What you will visit is not a classic museum. Instead, we ask you to take a short but intense journey through some episodes that have remained deeply rooted in the collective memory of our people and have forged their profound identity.
What will appear evident is that Suvereto has always been an "open" place of exchange and contamination. From the Charta Libertatis, which strongly opened to welcoming new citizens, to the daring innovations introduced by Elisa Bonaparte, to the centuries-old seasonal migrations of transhumance, this has outlined over time the true identity of the community: not closing in on "others" or even “Against others”, but, on the contrary, identity as openness to the new, to the stranger, to the different, to the other from oneself.
All this still lives today in the character of the people of Suvereto, in their simple and warm welcoming capacity, in their civic sense, in their attachment to freedom.
A "museum of memory" was not needed to tell this small and extraordinary story. Memory is not static, but constantly evolving. We needed an engaging, emotional place that would stimulate curiosity and the desire to participate in the constant construction of this memory and this identity. So, when visiting it, don't just look, but listen, touch, manipulate.
Have a nice trip.
The Museum of San Giusto is the result of a joint venture by the Council and Parish of Suvereto. This collection of religious art is the fundamental contribution of the village to the Jubilee of 2000, and is part of a wider initiative in the Cornia valley and the Diocese of Massa Marittima – Piombino. The collection – featuring sculpture, paintings and vestments – demonstrates the importance of Suvereto and her Church in medieval and early modern times. The collection is housed in the nineteenth century Oratory of San Giusto, between the ancient parish church and the main gate in the city walls. The mere position means that any visitor to the village should stop here to admire the works housed within.
The Museum, which is in its final phases of completion, houses the work of local artists. Particularly worthy of note are the coloured wooden statues attributed to Lorenzo di Pietro, known as Il Vecchietta (14th century), several oil paintings of the seventeenth century, and the marble bas-relief of the Madonna and Child by Andrea Guardi.
The Doll Museum is displayed in a historical building in via Magenta. The collection originally belonged to Maria Micaelli who donated it to the village. Taken together, the exhibits represent an important cultural patrimony which demonstrates the continual evolution of manufacturing along with examples of the various media used to make dolls – wood, papier-mache, porcelain, biscuit, rags and so on. The collection offers a complete assemblage showing the changing styles and different types of the last centuries.
Examples on show come from all over Italy and are displayed according to historical criteria, which aim to inform as well as amuse the visitor. The section showing the products of the Casa Lenci – founded in Turin in 1919 – is worthy of note, these being truly artistic works which gave rise to a commercial boom in America in the 30’s and 40’s. Older dolls are, for example, the Sardinian bamboli, made at the end of the nineteenth century, with heads in coloured papier-mache and a body of stuffed rags. Another important aspect of the collection is that constituted by more modern dolls, the products of contemporary artists, particularly those painted by ‘Eugen’ - the pseudonym of a famous Livornese painter.
As a link between the dolls of the past and those in the shops today, there is a section dedicated to dolls of the 50’s, the first to be produced in rigid plastic with moving eyes and a speaking voice. To complete the visit to such a complex phenomenon as that which the ‘simple’ doll truly is, the museum has a small shop with books and iconographic material, other publications and paper dolls with accessories.
