Museo della Pipa Paronelli

Private museum in Gavirate with a vast collection of pipes, machinery and objects linked to pipe-making tradition; visits by appointment.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The museum was founded in Gavirate at the end of the 1970s on the initiative of Jean Marie Alberto Paronelli, first a wholesaler and then a pipe designer. During his activity, which began in 1945, Paronelli had gathered a large number of pieces from very different origins, also thanks to frequent trips abroad. The museum presents itself as the first pipe museum in Italy and has always remained in Via del Chiostro.

The collection has exceeded 30,000 objects: pipes, tools, machinery, books, porcelain and terracottas. The machinery includes some thirty pieces, among them four monumental foot-powered lathes more than a hundred years old. The most important room is the Sala Campionaria of the historic firm F.lli Rossi; there are also the Sala Europa, a room for porcelain and plates, an exotic room, one devoted to hand-made pipes and a hall for machinery and tools.

Along the route are also works by Paronelli himself, including terracottas, painted plates and hand-painted ornamental gourds. The museum also houses the Académie Internationale de la Pipe, a non-profit association founded in Gavirate by Paronelli in 1984, which promotes training, publishing and promotional activities. The museum is a private family initiative and is visited with a guided tour by appointment.

Highlights

Collection of more than 30,000 objects, including pipes, tools, machinery, porcelain and terracottas
Sala Campionaria of the historic firm F.lli Rossi
Four monumental foot-powered lathes more than a century old
Themed rooms: Europe, hand-made pipes, porcelain, exotic room
Seat of the Académie Internationale de la Pipe, founded in 1984