Route of Daily Life

The Museum of the People of the Pistoia Apennines, in Rivoreta, offers a journey into the life of the people of this territory from modernity to the present day. It does so in a new way. First of all, by encouraging the visitor to immerse themselves in the dimension of doing with their hands, which in pre-industrial societies means above all thinking with their hands. The objects are then inserted into a path (also accessible to the blind through the innovative walk-assistant technology) made of suggestions, evocations and sounds because they want to represent ideas and provoke emotions. But the heart of the museum is in the relationship with the country that wanted it and that every year proposes practices of mountain life during the "Living Museum Day" (last Sunday in July) and during the "Knowledge Fair". Inside the museum, the Toy Laboratory is set up, which invites the visitor to experiment with their imagination and manual skills, building simple toys directly and with poor materials. In an old metato (chestnut barn) the section dedicated to wool processing is being set up (2006). In the Orsigna Valley, the Val d'Orsigna cooperative has renovated and made active various buildings with which it processes the fruits of the forest: a metato, for drying chestnuts and a mill, the Molino di Giamba, with two water-powered palmenti, built in 1820. Upstream from the mill in another historic building typical local products are displayed for sale. In the nearby chestnut groves new techniques for growing and processing chestnuts are being tested. Also in the Orsigna Valley the old "Via del carbone" (Coal Road) has been restored for educational purposes. [texts by the Tourism Service of the province of Pistoia]