Museo del Tabacco

About the museum

For more than 150 years, tobacco shaped farming and life in Brusio. Cultivation reached the lower Poschiavo Valley at the beginning of the 19th century and flourished around the middle of the century; the state tobacco monopoly in neighboring Lombardy-Venetia encouraged smuggling across the border at that time. Processing in the valley did not end until the late 1980s, mainly because of foreign competition.

The Misani tobacco factory in the center of Brusio was built around the middle of the 19th century and is one of the few industrial buildings of that era that survive in their original state; in 2018 the Denkmalpflege Graubünden (cantonal heritage office) placed it on the list of buildings worthy of protection. Cigars and, until production ended, pipe tobacco were made here.

The owner, Pietro Misani, already had the idea of setting up a museum in the disused factory in 2003. A working group was formed in 2021, the association Museo del Tabacco Brusio was founded on June 11, 2022, and after several years of restoration work the museum opened on May 22, 2026. A walk-through shows the machines for processing tobacco leaves, which are still fully functional, as well as objects and photographs, for example from the attic where the leaves once hung to dry. The museum complements the nearby Casa Besta.

Highlights

• Former Misani tobacco factory from the mid-19th century
• Original machines for processing tobacco, still in working order
• Production of cigars and pipe tobacco
• Drying loft and historical photographs
• Open since May 2026

Permanent exhibition

• Tabakfabrik Misani – The tour through the preserved factory shows the original, still working machines for processing tobacco leaves and tells of cultivation, production and the economic importance of tobacco for Brusio.

Founded

2026

Operated by

Associazione Museo del Tabacco Brusio

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is in the village center of Brusio, on the cantonal road.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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