Museo nazionale italiano del tè

Tea museum and tea house in Raddusa with teapots and utensils from around the world, a ceremony room in Eastern style and an attached tea plantation.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The museum grew out of the passion for tea of Salvatore Pellegrino, a tea master born in Raddusa who, while working as a cook around the world, became drawn to Eastern cuisines and to the study of the tea plant. According to the website, the Casa del tè, an Eastern-style house in the middle of the wheat fields, is one of only four tea houses in Italy and the only one with an attached tea plantation; its aim is to make the drink and the tea ceremony better known.

The house is built according to a specific Eastern philosophy, from the materials used to the astral orientation: visitors enter without shoes, into the genkan, and a spacious hall with floor cushions hosts tastings. A wooden staircase leads to the tea room, a faithful copy of the Eastern setting in which tea is prepared and served. The museum displays ancient and modern tools for preparing tea (kettles, teapots, implements, sample collections, servants’ clothing), arranged by country of origin, as well as a collection of Yixing teapots; tea plants and medicinal herbs grow in the experimental garden.

Highlights

Tea room with a reproduction of the Eastern setting, with tatami
Teapots, kettles and utensils arranged by country of origin
Collection of Yixing teapots (China)
Tea plantation and medicinal herb garden attached
Tea tastings in a hall with floor cushions