The Val Grande National Park Museum

The Val Grande National Park Museum

The Val Grande National Park Museum

This archeological museum is in an ancient building which used to belong to the families Fucio, Cioja and Pollini.

In XV century it started to have a public use as it hosted the Vigezzo Magistrates’ Court (which lately was moved to Santa Maria Maggiore), the prisons in the basement and the Inquisition Room are still there to witness such period.

In 2006 in was renovated and it became a museum. The ancient Audience Room was turned into a meeting and lecture room. In the Museum we can find a wide collection of archeological items from Bronze Age, Roman Age and Middle-Ages which were discovered in Malesco, Craveggia and Folsogno.

From 1877 to the XX century the basement was used as a public dairy and some of the instruments of those times are still kept in the Museum.

However, the main theme around which the Museum has been built is the soapstone. This is a malleable stone which is easily found in our mountains and was widely used in the past to produce many different objects for domestic or decorative purposes. Malesco was home to skilled stonemasons who were able to work the soapstone to turn it into any object they needed.