Small diary museum — Attraction in Pieve Santo Stefano

The Piccolo museo del diario is an unmissable little gem. Staff is prepared, committed and enthusiastic and the collection is surprisingly and unexpectedly arranged in a way that I found both striking new and deeply emotional. I won’t tell you what you'll find in this tiny but very dense museum - I don’t want to spoil it for you... but I promise, you will find no yellowish journal pages in dusty cases. Instead, you'll embark in a touching, inspirational, passionate, moving, sometimes even hilarious journey into the deep heart of Italy and its dwellers, and following the threads of those personal stories, you'll cross path with Italian History (with a capital “H”) itself. But most of all, you'll find out how bravery, determination, generosity, sacrifice, social awareness, moral values, self-irony, long for adventure, thirst for knowledge and hunger for education are not just prerogatives of the main historical characters, heros and heroines, but are deeply rooted in normal people as well. The visit absolutely exceeded my expectations: it's been a wonderful and remarkable experience. Even the small shop is...

Small - just three rooms - but really wonderfully designed. It's very moving indeed to encounter the various people's stories - it seems silly to repeat what others have said better than me: just believe them! You do need to be an Italian speaker to get the most out of it (we are fortunate in that respect) but our guide was in any case lovely, helpful and friendly. A surprising treasure that surpassed all our expectation. And the shop afterwards has some lovely things too! Because it's so small, you have to wait for other parties to come out, but our guide sat and spoke with us, entertaining us with a wonderfully informative history of the town, the building and the museum itself. When we went there was also a small but absolutely fascinating exhibition on the history and practice of lace-making in the area, with a delightfully chatty and learned curator. The whole experience was very memorable. We came away feeling very privileged indeed to have shared in the stories we encountered. Much...

How interesting can it be to read another's diary? I went without any expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. Our guide, Giacomo is such a wonderful storyteller. Probably the tiniest museum you'll ever see. It has 4 little rooms and each has many interesting stories to tell. From heart wrenching notes of a boy to his mother until his death, to the intricate details on a bedsheet written by a grieving widow. While I was extremely impressed by how the little rooms were curated, the introduction and the way the stories were presented by our guide deserves much applause. Thank you so much!

*Book in advance. If you require an English guide, put a note in...