Photo: Syrio · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo Etnografico Madre Maria Domenica Mantovani

Birthplace of Mother Maria Domenica Mantovani at Castelletto di Brenzone, with late-19th-century furnishings and tools of rural life and fishing.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The museum is in Castelletto, in the historic centre of Brenzone sul Garda, in the house where Mother Maria Domenica Mantovani (1862–1934) was born. She co-founded, with Blessed Giuseppe Nascimbeni, the Istituto delle Piccole Suore della Sacra Famiglia (Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family), and was proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022. The museum was promoted by the Institute with the aim of preserving the memory of the culture of the ancestors in their home village.

The interiors have been faithfully reconstructed and furnished with furniture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tools linked to the traditional activities of the place are on display, such as fishing, olive growing, animal husbandry and silk farming (bachicoltura).

The building includes, on the basement floor, a reconstructed stable and a store for farm tools; on the first floor, the kitchen, the pantry and a study and research workshop in the room where Mother Maria was born; and on the second floor, an attic, a bedroom and a “stanza della memoria” (room of memory) with objects linked to her faith. It also houses a research and culture centre.

Highlights

Birthplace of Mother Maria Domenica Mantovani
Kitchen and bedroom with late-19th-century furnishings
Tools for fishing, olive growing, animal husbandry and silk farming
Reconstructed stable and store for farm tools
“Stanza della memoria” (room of memory) on the second floor

Permanent exhibition

Casa museo di Madre Maria Domenica Mantovani – Reconstructed interiors with furnishings from the late 19th and early 20th century and tools linked to fishing, olive growing, animal husbandry and silk farming.