Museo dei Cuchi

About the museum

The Museo dei Cuchi in Cesuna, on the Altopiano dei Sette Comuni, is the museum of terracotta whistles, a unique institution of its kind in Italy and the world. It was founded in 1987 out of the passion of Gianfranco Valente for the long history of these traditional wind instruments, so old that it gave rise to the dialect saying “vecio come el cuco” (as old as the cuckoo).

The cuchi were invented to imitate birdsong, to represent the spirit of life, to drive away evil spirits, as amulets or as a way of protecting farmers against crop predators, and later became children's toys and tokens of love. The earliest traces date back to prehistory, the Bronze Age and ancient Greece; interest in them grew firmly between the 19th and 20th centuries. In the Veneto, the cuchi of Nove are famous; originally small, they were shaped like a rooster.

The collection, housed in the former schools of Cesuna, brings together around 4,000 pieces grouped by theme and origin, from Italy, Latin America, Asia and Europe. The museum organises a biennial dedicated to whistles, and every year at Canove di Roana, for the feast of St Mark, the sagra dei cuchi is held.

Highlights

• Around 4,000 terracotta whistles from around the world
• Cuchi of Nove, shaped like a rooster and a bird
• Types of European whistles
• Biennial of whistles

Founded

1987

Visitors per year

approx. 1,250

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Amenities & dining

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