Museo della Vita Contadina di San Tomaso

Small museum of rural life in a farmhouse at the San Tomaso alpine pasture, 580 metres above Valmadrera, with farm tools and reconstructed rooms.

Opening hours unknown

Website Directions

About the museum

The museum is located in the alpine locality of San Tomaso, on a natural terrace at 580 metres above sea level, above Valmadrera, in an area once used as pasture and now the subject of a redevelopment project. It was set up in 2002 inside one of the local farmhouses (cascine), owned by the Comunità Montana Lario Orientale – Valle San Martino, thanks to the work of volunteers from the Centro di Promozione Sociale of Valmadrera.

In about 150 square metres, across three rooms, the museum documents agricultural work and domestic life in the Lecco area from the nineteenth century onwards. The tools follow the cycle of the farming year, which traditionally began on 11 November, St Martin’s Day: the first room displays the tools of autumn (ploughs, seed drills, axes and timber-working equipment), along with implements for the grape harvest and the summer crop; the second holds those for milk and cheese, a large section on beekeeping and an area devoted to women’s work.

In the loft, the farmhouse of a nineteenth-century peasant family has been faithfully reconstructed, with kitchen, bedroom and hearth, and period linen in the cupboards. The museum evokes the atmosphere of rural roots and is a frequent stop for school groups and tour groups.

Highlights

Nineteenth-century farm tools arranged by season
Ploughs, seed drills and machines for shelling maize
Wine press and tools for crushing grapes
Corner devoted to beekeeping
Reconstructed peasant kitchen and bedroom