Some unconventional Museums in Italy

When it is possible again, why not visit some of Italy's particular, most imaginative and alternative museums? From Parmigiano Reggiano Museum to Ice Cream Museum...

Italy is a tourist and cultural destination loved by both domestic and international tourists: historic cities are a constant attraction and are likely to remain eternally fascinating and visited. Spread throughout the country, museums host artworks telling the history of the nation itself through art and architecture. However, here you won't read about the famous ones but rather about the unconventional Italian museums that you must visit at least once in your life!

In the city of Perugia, just a few kilometres from the historic centre, stands the popular Perugina factory where you can visit the Chocolate House and the Historical Museum. The journey begins with the Historical museum, which tells how Perugina has been interpreting the Italians' passion for chocolate for over a century. The story of the legendary Bacio (a single chocolate whose name literally mean „kiss“) the symbol of the factory (a giant Bacio stands there as if it were a real museum piece) from Luisa Spagnoli's intuition, deserves special attention. The visit also provides an opportunity to view archival material telling the history of the factory and its production.

Inaugurated in 2012, the Carpigani Ice cream Museum is located in Anzola dell'Emilia (Bologna) within the former industrial areas of the company, which since 1946 has been producing machines for artisanal ice cream. From its origins to the present day, it is an interactive journey on three levels: the evolution of ice cream over time, the history of the technological production and the places and methods of ice cream consumption. You can also admire the ice cream manufacturing and taste it.

The Bora is a characteristic wind of the city of Trieste and this is the reason why the project named Museo della Bora- Il Magazzino dei Venti was created in 2004. Rather than a museum in the strict sense of the word, its creators define it as a curious space or a museum in progress because it reflects the nature of the wind itself, which moves and evolves. The visit is based on two levels: that of memory, through the famous works of authors such as Rodari or Stendhal, and that of creativity with interactive games simulating the wind.

In the province of Parma, there is the museum network Musei del Cibo (literally food museums) which also includes Parmigiano Reggiano Museum is located in the 'Castellazzi' complex (Soragna, Parma).

The museum aims to celebrate Parmigiano Reggiano, one of the most appreciated, popular and even copied Made in Italy products in the world.

More than 120 objects, dating between 1800 and the first half of the 20th century, and about a hundred images, drawings and ancient photographs, illustrate, within a building dedicated for centuries to cheese production, the evolution of milk processing techniques, the stages of maturing and marketing, as well as the fundamental role of Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium in safeguarding quality.

In the Langhe district of Barolo (Cuneo), since 2010 there is the Wimu, the most innovative Wine Museum in Italy. As its creator François Confino states, here you can fully immerse in the cultural dimension of wine capable of creating art and accompanying the evolution of whole civilizations. The visit is organised on floors divided into thematic rooms (third floor The Times of Wine, second floor The Wine in History and in the Arts, First floor The Castle and the Falletti family, Floor-1 Barolo College and the Temple of the wine tourist, Floor -2 Regional wineshop of Barolo).