MuMeLoc is a multimedia museum, a cultural center, a project-in-progress open to contributions from anyone who shares the same objectives. It’s a museum that does not merely conserve objects and artefacts, but exhibits stories, voices and images.
Cerreto Guidi, MuMeLoc – The Museum of Local Memory
The Museum of Local Memory – Museo della Memoria Locale/MuMeLoc – has the primary purpose of promoting the safeguarding and enhancement of local cultural heritage, conveying knowledge of its historical roots, human experience and prospects for future development. It focuses on one of the most dramatic events in local history: the Nazi-Fascist massacre of August 23, 1944. In connection with this terrible tragedy, stories are told of the many vicissitudes of the local area and its residents up to the present day, through filmic historical reconstructions concerning the Marsh of Fucecchio and life in Cerreto Guidi, local traditions and typical crafts and trades of the Marsh area, with exhibits of traditional objects (pots and traps, prints, bands made of tufted sedge, woven hats), documentation of the trial of the perpetrators of the 1944 massacre, and texts on local history.
The MuMeLoc is also a multipurpose cultural center with various functions: exposition space, multimedia archive, educational laboratory, and permanent observatory for the preservation of the local territory.
Works by great masters, multimedia reconstructions with voices and stories from the territory and the communities it hosts, archaeological finds and historical arts and crafts: every museum in the area offers great little stories to discover.
Memories
The Marsh of Fucecchio
The Museum has a particular focus on the Marsh of Fucecchio, a wetland of great naturalistic importance. Although significantly smaller than in the past – it was once a swamp that covered most of the southern Val di Nievole -, it still spreads over 1800 hectares, making it the largest inland marsh in Italy. The Marsh has played an important role in the history of Cerreto Guidi, in matters concerning the territorial frameworks set up by the Medici dynasty, and also in contemporary history, as it was the theater of one of the most dramatic episodes of the Second World War, in which, on August 23, 1944, over 170 people were killed, mainly women, children and elderly folk.
Located at the point where the Arno River Valley opens towards the plain of Pisa and the Via Francigena, Cerreto Guidi has played a fundamental role in the course of local history.
Cerreto Guidi’s name is linked to the cerro (turkey oak) trees that once filled its woods, and to the feudal Guidi Counts who had built a castle here. The spot was chosen by Cosimo I dei Medici for a villa, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which hosts a painting gallery of works form the Medici collections and a large exhibition of multiple artworks ranging from antiquity to the 20th century from the collection of antiquarian Stefano Bardini. The villa is also the site of the Museum of Hunting and the Local Territory.
Around the villa, in the “Village Ring,” the urban structure consists of concentric rings making up Cerreto Guidi’s characteristic historic center, and other marks left by the Medici include the Hunters’ House and the Medici Stalls or stables. Some must-sees during your visit: the Parish Church of San Leonardo, the Oratory of the Holy Trinity, and the Sanctuary of Santa Liberata dedicated to the town’s patron saint.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
IN ONE OF OUR 21 MUSEUMS
find your museum
MuMeLoc – The Museum of Local Memory
(Museo della Memoria Locale)
Piazza Dante Desideri
50050 – Cerreto Guidi (Firenze)
tel. +39 0571 906247
e-mail: info@mumeloc.it
sito: www.mumeloc.it
Reference person: Mr. Valerio Bonfanti, Office of Culture and Tourism: +39 0571 906224
The Museum is temporarily closed.
The reopening is scheduled for January 2024
Individual tickets
Regular: € 3,00
Reduced: € 1,50
Reduced tickets for:
Museum entrance is free for:
MuDEV (Multi-site Museum of Empoli and Valdelsa)
operational headquarters
c/o MUVE Museo del vetro
Via Ridolfi 70 – 74, 50053 Empoli (FI)
tel: +39 0571 757067
info@mu-dev.it
Tourist area Empolese Valdelsa and Montalbano
Piazza della Vittoria, 54
50053 – Empoli (FI)
tel: +39 0571 933284
info@toscananelcuore.it
